Saints Advance to Regions with 1-0 Win Over St. Clair
Posted July 31, 2022
Two days removed from a 10-0, seven-inning defeat at top-seeded Jordan, the St. Peter amatuer baseball club rebounded Sunday and claimed a 1-0 pitchers' duel victory over St. Clair to earn the River Valley Leauge's No. 4 seed in Region 6C playoffs. As the RVL's fourth seed, the Saints will take on Waterville - the 13/60 League's No. 1 seed - in Waterville at 7 p.m. Saturday to wrap up the opening round of the eight-team, double-eliminatinon playoff.
Andy Regner set the tone early on the mound for St. Peter, striking out the side in the first inning. Regner tossed a complete game shutout in the postseason for the second time in his town team career (first was Fairfax in 2017), allowing just five hits with seven strikeouts and zero walks. Only three St. Clair baserunners reached scoring position and Regner threw five three-up, three-down innings.
The Saints had runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth, and fifth innings before breaking the shutout in the eighth. Jovan Rodriguez led off with a walk, Regner laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Sam Wenner followed with a single to center, allowing Rodriguez to slide around the tag at home for the game's lone run.
Josh Robb led the offense, batting 2-for-3 with a walk. The team collected just six hits against St. Clair's Evan Furst, who tossed all eight innings.
Saturday night's winner between St. Peter and Waterville advances to a state-qualifying game Sunday against the winner of Gaylord and Minn. Lake.
Photo (courtesy of Barb Regner): Jovan Rodriguez slides around a tag at home for the game's lone run in the bottom of the eighth.
