SOUTH POINT — Don’t expect the St. Joseph Flyers to feel sorry for themselves.
After suffering a tough loss to Green on Monday in a battle for first place in the SOC, the Flyers came back on Tuesday with a late rally to beat the South Point Pointers 4-1.
“To bounce back after a tough loss last night was a tribute to our kids,” said Flyers’ coach Greg Bryant.
“We had good pitching, we played good defense and we had guys doing something positive up and down the lineup.”
With the game tied at 1-1, the Flyers scored 3 times in the top of the seventh inning.
With one out, Darryn Harvey and Mason Weber singled. After Landon Rowe lined out, Brady Medinger ripped a double to score both runners and give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.
Balestra helped his own cause with a double off the top of the fence to plate Medinger with an insurance run.
Balestra retired the Pointers in order in the bottom of the inning to close out the win.
Balestra went the distance allowing one earned run, 4 hits with 9 strikeouts and just 2 walks.
“He was hitting his spots and changing his speeds. It’s fun to call a game like that,” said Bryant.
St. Joseph (8-3) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Harvey led off with a walk, Rowe got a single and pinch-runner Ian Whaley went to third on a passed ball and scored on a hit by Medinger.
The Pointers (10-7) came back to tie the game in the fourth inning on a single by Brayden Hanshaw and a double by Joey Lobaldo to start the inning.
Kolton Layman then walked but Balestra got 3 straight strikeouts.
Medinger was 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI to pace the Flyers. Rowe also went 2-4, Harvey 1-3, Drew Brown1-4 and Balestra was 1-4 with a double and RBI.
Lobaldo was 2-3 with a double and RBI to lead the Pointers. Corey Otzenberger and Hanshaw each went 1-3.
Layman pitched a complete game in taking the loss. He gave up 8 hits, 4 earned runs with 12 strikeouts and one walk.
St. Joseph 001 000 3 = 4 8 0
South Point 000 100 0 = 1 4 0
Evan Balestra and Jake Stephens. Kolton Layman and Gage Chapman. W-Balestra (IP-7.0, H-4, R-1, ER-1, K-9, BB-2, WP-1, HBP-1) L-Layman (IP-7.0, H-8, R-4, ER-4, K-12, BB-1, WP-1, HBP-1). Hitting-St. Joseph: Landon Rowe 2-4, Brady Medinger 2-4 2B 3-RBI, Evan Balestra 1-4 2B RBI, Drew Brown 1-4, Darryn Harvey 1-3, Mason Weber 1-3; South Point: Corey Otzenberger 1-3, Brayden Hanshaw 1-3, Joey Lobaldo 2-3 2B RBI.
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