BROCKTON — The St. John’s Prep baseball team came into Tuesday afternoon’s Division 1A “Super 8” loser’s bracket game needing a win to stay alive in the postseason. Walpole had a different plan in mind.
Behind a stellar eight-inning performance on the mound from pitcher Cameron Schlittler and a four-run rally in the second inning, the No. 8 Rebels defeated the No. 3 Eagles, 6-4, to end St. John’s season at Campanelli Stadium.
Schlitter blanked St. John’s through the first four innings. He finished the game with 10 strikeouts and allowed three earned runs on six hits.
“I thought he (Schlittler) was on top of our hitters,” Eagles coach Dan Letarte said. “The ball came out quick. He had really good control going. We got some hits here and there but we only had six hits off him.
“Give Walpole credit,” Letarte added. “We beat them earlier in the year and they came back and beat us with their No. 1 pitcher. All hats off to them.”
Eagles starter Jake Sanderson threw four innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts. Sanderson was relieved by Kevin Dewing, who pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs with eight strikeouts.
“Kevin did really well,” Letarte said. “He was on top of runners. He battled the whole time and he gave us a chance to win. That’s all you can ask for is that he gives us a chance to win.”
After a scoreless first inning, St. John’s ran into trouble in the top of the second. Sanderson struggled to find the strike zone throughout the inning and walked in a pair of runs. Jack Magane laced a RBI single and Tyler Page scored on a fielder’s choice, leading the Rebels to a 4-0 advantage.
“Walks, hits and a couple of balls that found their way through,” Letarte said. “It was a tough inning. You look at the final score and we got those four back eventually but their pitcher (Schlittler) did a great job.”
St. John’s remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth when Mike Yarin (2-for-4, two RBI) popped a two-run home run over the left-field to slice the deficit in half. Yarin’s round-tripped also scored Andrew Dembowski, who led the inning by reaching on an error.
“Mike had a lot of big hits,” Letarte said. “It’s his third year in the tournament but overall he’s come up with big plays and big hits. He’s a senior and he’ll definitely be missed. He’s just a great player. He’s probably the best hitter I’ve ever coached.”
Walpole stretched its lead to 6-2 in the top of the sixth on back-to-back RBI singles from Bryan Kraus and Christopher McLean.
Refusing to quit, the Eagles rallied for two of their own in the bottom of the eighth. Yarin doubled with one out and scored on Alex Lane’s (1-for-3, RBI) RBI triple. Lane crossed home plate on Tyler MacGregor’s (1-for-4, RBI) sac-fly to make it a 6-4 game.
St. John’s fell short, however, as the Eagles went down in order in the ninth for the 6-4 defeat.
“This was a great bunch of kids,” Letarte said. “Even when they were down four runs they kept fighting. They never quit. It’s a great group of kids, a very talented baseball bunch. We got outplayed today and that’s baseball, but this was a great group.”
