High School Baseball: Sage Hill takes down St. Margaret’s

Players in the Sage Hill School dugout began taking off their cleats in the top of the seventh inning. With an eight-run lead, host Sage Hill was three outs away from staying undefeated in Academy League play.

Coach Dominic Campeau had to remind his players that in baseball no lead is safe.

“What are you guys doing?” Campeau asked his players who removed their cleats. “You’re going to upset the baseball gods.”

The Tartans made it interesting in the seventh, scoring four runs with the bases loaded. With one out, the bases occupied, and the tying run at the plate, the Lightning brought in Parker Reposa.

The senior closed things out. Reposa got the final two outs, earning a save in Sage Hill’s 9-5 win, helping it keep pace with Crean Lutheran in the league standings.

Sage Hill and Crean Lutheran are the only two undefeated teams in league. They won’t see each other until April 28 and May 1. Three games remain before Sage Hill, which is 5-0 in league, meet the defending league champion Saints, the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 poll.

Sage Hill, ranked No. 5, took the first of two games this week against the Tartans, who dropped to 1-4 in league. Brett Super improved to 4-0 after giving up one hit in five innings.

The sophomore wasn’t his usual self, walking five and hitting one batter, while striking out eight. The result was much better than Super’s last one against St. Margaret’s at home. Last year, he took a no-hitter into the seventh, lost it, and then lost the game.

“That was rough,” Super said of last year’s 3-2 loss to the Tartans. “Coming in I was really excited, probably the most excited I’ve been for a game. Last year, they threw the last punch.”

Reposa stopped the Tartans’ late-inning rally, relieving Kellen Ochi, who ran into trouble in the seventh by allowing a single, a walk and a single to the first three batters.

With the bases jammed, Ochi struck out the next batter. But an error by Super at shortstop with the bases loaded made it a 9-2 game, and the runs kept coming, one by one with the bases loaded. One came in on a walk to Logan Smith, then another two on consecutive singles by Auston Locke and Max Bienert, who went three for four with two runs batted in.

St. Margaret’s trailed by four when Reposa entered. He got Jacob Krutcik and Evan Clary to pop up and fly out, respectively.

While Sage Hill’s staff was in a tough spot late, it was the second inning that hurt St. Margaret’s the most. Sage Hill put up six runs in the second inning, chasing starter Kyle Hermann. Conner Bock led off with a walk, followed by a walk to Reposa and a single by Christopher Goul.

Super drove in Bock with an infield single with the bases loaded for the game’s first run. Carlos Orozco’s infield single brought in two more runs to put Sage Hill up, 4-0.

Hermann and his replacement, Krutcik, combined to walk four and plunk two batters in the second inning. Bock batted a second time in the inning, only to be hit with the bases loaded, and Reposa walked a second time in the same inning, this time with the bases loaded. Bock and Reposa each finished one for two, Bock with two RBIs.

Bock’s second RBI came in the fourth inning. The left-handed batter went the other way with a curveball for a double toward the left-field line. The double was the cleanup hitter’s first of the season.

“We put up a good run against them the first six innings,” said Bock, who scored twice. “We just got to finish it better. The mentality can’t be to just coast off in the seventh inning. We got to keep putting the pressure on until the game’s over.”

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Academy League

Sage Hill 9, St. Margaret’s 5

SCORE BY INNINGS

St. Margaret’s 000 100 4 - 5 6 1

Sage Hill 060 210 x - 9 8 3

Hermann, Clary (2), Messina (3), Smith (5) and Bradley; Super, Ochi (6), Reposa (7) and Bush. W - Super, 4-0. L - Hermann. 2B - Bock (SH), Pelc (SH).