Hitting and pitching have not been a problem for the St. Xavier High School baseball team this season, and coach Andy Porta finally saw some signs of improvement from his defense Tuesday night.
“We’ve scored enough runs to win games,” Porta said. “It’s just the unearned runs we’ve given up.”
The Tigers committed just one error Tuesday – on a catcher’s interference – and once again were solid at the plate and on the mound to post a 4-3 victory at Ballard in a battle of Seventh Region rivals.
No. 4 in the state in the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Top 25, St. X improved to 9-8 with the victory.
PHOTO GALLERY | St. Xavier at Ballard
Porta said that record could be better if not for a shaky defense. He pointed out a 12-6 loss to Cincinnati Moeller on Saturday that saw the Tigers commit five errors in one inning.
“All we’ve talked about in the past week is that somebody has to stop the bleeding because you’re still going to make errors,” Porta said. “But it can’t be a snowball effect like when we played Moeller. … They did a much better job today.”
Junior Connor Holden (3-0) was solid on the mound, allowing three runs and seven hits and striking out seven in six innings. Junior Sam Wilson, who has replaced the injured Chris Esselman as the Tigers’ closer, struck out the side in the seventh to pick up his first save.
St. X finished with 10 hits, led by Adam Elliott and Nick Nelson both going 3 for 4.
“I’ve been swinging the bat pretty well for the past few games,” Nelson said. “Nothing changed tonight. Our approach was mainly to keep our weight back because we thought we were going to see somebody throwing harder than that. I think we adjusted pretty well.”
Ballard (5-9-1), likely to drop from its No. 1 spot when the next KHSBCA poll is released, continued to struggle against a tough schedule and dropped to 0-6-1 in its past seven games.
“Their record is not indicative of how good they are, and our record’s not either,” Porta said. “That’s what happens when you play good competition and some of the out-of-state teams.”
Tanner Brown’s home run in the first gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead, and they pushed ahead 4-1 in the fifth on Sam Hedges’ two-run single to right.
Will Barman’s two-out, two-run single pulled Ballard within 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth.
Ballard had a chance to tie in the sixth after two-out singles by Haynes Routt and Ivan Villaba put runners at first and third. But Routt was thrown out at home on a double-steal attempt to end the inning.
Jake Snider, a University of Louisville signee, went 2 for 3 to lead the Bruins at the plate.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
ST. XAVIER 110 020 0 – 4 10 1
BALLARD 001 020 0 – 3 7 2
WP – Holden (3-0). LP – Moloney (2-3). SV – Wilson (1). HR – Brown (SX). 2B – Nelson (SX).