Baserunning has been a point of emphasis for the Sacred Heart baseball team all season.
That was more than clear after the Eagles trampled over visiting Fertile-Beltrami 10-0 at Stauss Park on Thursday in the first round of the Minnesota Section 8A baseball tournament.
“We’ve done a really good job of that all season,” said Sacred Heart coach Paul Bethke. “We are really pushing our guys to get in a position to score when they get on base.”
Getting into a position to score is exactly what the 16-4 Eagles did as they registered 10 runs on eight hits with eight stolen bases.
“We have done a great job of improving on that from last season,” said Bethke. “It has really paid off for us so far this season and we are looking to continue that moving forward.”
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In the first inning, lead-off hitter Riley Wavra got walked and shortly after captured the first of his three stolen bases on the night. Thanks to a wild throw on a routine put-out at first base, Wavra was able to round third base and give the Eagles the lead they would never lose.
The Eagles were able to put up an almost identical run in the second inning thanks to another stolen base and Falcons fielding error, despite not having yet recorded a hit.
In fact, the home team’s first hit of the game came in the third inning when Ryan Holte put a grounder up the middle. After another Falcon fielding error, the Eagles were able to put two base-runners into scoring position.
That was when Devin Evavold put up an extra base hit that drove in two of his team-high three RBI on the night.
The senior ace finished 2-for-3 from the plate, while also pitching a complete game and striking out six.
“I just tried to throw strikes and not get behind on the count,” said Evavold. “We didn’t get the bats out until a little later in the game, but we didn’t have any errors and overall I think we played really well.”
The Eagles would go on to score six runs in the bottom of the fifth, ending the game early thanks to the 10-run rule. Sacred Heart is headed to the west subsection semifinals on Thursday.
The Eagles will play Badger-Greenbush-Middle River at 10 a.m. in Ada.
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“Looking forward in the playoffs we just want to do the best we can,” said Evavold. “We just have to hit the ball as hard as we can and do our best to execute.”
