Xavier Baseball

Saints advance to Metro final

The Washington Warriors made things too easy for the Xavier Saints in the semifinals of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Baseball Tournament Wednesday night.

The Saints parlayed six walks, five hits and four hit batters into an 8-3 victory over the Warriors on a cold, raw evening at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Dane Mehring pitched five shutout innings for Xavier (2-0) before being touched for three runs in the sixth inning.

Mac Mattke went 2-for-4 for the Saints with two doubles and drove in three runs. Corbin Woods went 2-for-4 for Xavier and knocked in a run.

A.J. Puk and Grant Dostal had two hits for Washington (1-1).

Puk gave up six runs in 3 1/3 innings as Washington's starting pitcher. He walked four batters, hit three batters and gave up two hits.

Xavier advanced to the Metro finals against Kennedy Wednesday night.

Read more...

Ex-Saint DeSousa helps Winona to D-2 tourney

Andrew DeSousa was the winning pitcher for Xavier High School when the Saints won the Class 3A baseball championship in 2006. Now he'll play on an even bigger stage.

DeSousa pitched a shutout for Winona State this week to help the Warriors (39-17) reach the NCAA Division II national tournament in North Carolina this weekend.

DeSousa, a senior, has compiled a 6-1 record with a 3.15 ERA this season. He is an engineering major at Winona State.

DeSousa attended Cedar Valley Christian School in Cedar Rapids, but he was allowed to play at Xavier because Cedar Valley Christian does not have a baseball team.

Cody Strang, a sophomore from Solon, also is on the Winona State team. He batted .361 with four home runs and 19 RBIs.

Ries, Brecht, Benson make college choices

Three Metro baseball players will get a chance to play ball in college next season.

Alex Ries and Colby Brecht of Xavier High School have committed to Southeastern Community College in West Burlington. Austin Benson of Kennedy has committed to Minnesota State.

Ries hit .263 with three home runs and 21 RBIs for the Saints last season in 114 at-bats. He started in center for Xavier Monday night in the Bob Vrbicek Metro tournament and went 2-for-2 with two RBIs.

Brecht hit .167 in limited action at Xavier last season as a junior. He was the Saints' starting catcher Monday night and went 0-for-1 with an RBI.

Benson hit .333 in limited playing time at Kennedy last season when the Cougars won the Class 4A state title. He started in center field Monday night in the Metro tournament and went 0-for-1 with two walks.

Late 4-run rally lifts Saints past Linn-Mar

Xavier took advantage of 11 walks and six hits to fashion a 9-5 win over Linn-Mar on Monday night at Xavier in the first round of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament.

The game was tied, 5-5, heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

But five walks, a hit batsman and Alex Ries' RBI single pushed across four Xavier runs and the Saints went on to victory.

Xavier opened the scoring in the bottom of the first.  The Saints manufactured two runs with a walk, a hit batsman, an infield single, and an error. Linn-Mar came back in the top of the third with two runs of their own on an RBI double by Ben Larison and a sacrifice fly by Jordan Stroschein.

Xavier added three runs in the bottom of the third. Corbin Woods had an RBI double and Alex Ries a run-scoring single.

Linn-Mar scored a run in the fifth when Larison delivered a sacrifice fly, and Corey Prokop's two-run single in the top of the sixth tied the game, 5-5.

Saints starting pitcher Ean McNeal went 5 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on two hits.  He struck out six and walked three.

Mack Mattke relieved McNeal and finished it out for the win.  Mattke blanked the Lions and gave up two hits.

Mattke has made the transition from catching to pitching.

“I just have to concentrate on keeping my weight back and really use my hips,” explained Mattke.  “It is kind of tough to change your arm slot like that, but I will do whatever coach wants me to do.”

Ries and Mattke each collected two hits.

“I am glad we came out swinging for this first game of the year,” said Ries.  “We need to concentrate on fundamentals, and just get the job done.”

Michael Redmond led Linn-Mar with two hits.  Larison and Prokop each knocked in two runs.  Jake Stolley started on the mound for the Lions and went 2 1/3 innings. Nate Greve took the loss in relief, pitching 3 1/3 innings.

Linn-Mar will play Marion Tuesday night at 5 at Xavier and Xavier will host Washington at 7.

LINN-MAR (5)
Nate Greve, dh, 3 1 0 0, Blackford, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Ben Larison, ss, 3 0 1 2, Michael Redmond, cf, 3 0 2 1, Jordan Stroschein, rf, 2 0 0 0, Jeremy Danover, c, 3 0 0 0, Travis Kvach, cr, 0 1 0 0, Kevin Bogert, lf, 2 0 0 0, Mitch Stickney, ph, 0 1 0 0, Nate Johnson, p, 0 0 0 0, Eric Bohr, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Jake Stolley, p, 3 0 0 0, Corey Prokop, 2b, 3 1 1 2, Austin Stroschein, 3b, 1 1 0 0. Totals 23 5 4 5.

XAVIER (9)
Blake Helms, ss, 4 2 0 0, Nate Even, 2b, 2 2 0 0, Mack Mattke, 1b, 3 1 2 0, Josh Tipton, cr, 0 0 0 0, Kevin Hosch, lf, 4 1 1 1, Corbin Woods, 3b, 3 2 1 1, Eric Zenisek, rf, 2 1 0 0, Alex Ries, cf, 2 0 2 2, Colby Brecht, c, 1 0 0 1, Colin Brown, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ean McNeal, p, 3 0 0 0. Totals 24 9 6 5.

Linn-Mar  002  012  0 -- 5  4  1
Xavier        203  004  x -- 9  6  2

Stolley, Greve (3), Johnson (6), A.Strochein (6) and Danover. McNeal, Mattke (6) and Brecht.
2B--Larison, Mattke, Woods. SB--Kvach, Prokop 2, Tipton.