Ursuline gets 5-2 victory over Girard at Cene Park

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

Joel Kreuzwieser didn’t have the most confidence through half an inning on the mound. His outlook changed quickly, however, after he and his Ursuline teammates got their first chance to hit.

Kreuzwieser settled in from there to record a 5-2 victory over Girard at Cene Park on Wednesday night.

“I started off a little shaky,” Kreuzwieser said. “I was a little timid. I gathered myself together and my coach gave some good advice to take a few deep breaths between pitches.”

Kreuzwieser struck out six in 62⁄3 innings. He allowed four hits and walked three in surrendering two earned runs.

“When you get into a lead, it builds up confidence,” Kreuzwieser said. “When your team puts up three runs for you, you know they’ll be there to play defense for you. I was pounding the zone with the fastball and using the occasional curveball to keep them off balance.”

The Fighting Irish (7-8) plated two in the bottom half of the first behind RBI singles from Vince Armeni and Dante Walker.

“We started fast, like we have done in a lot of games,” Ursuline coach Matt Weymer said. “We didn’t keep that momentum. We had chances to score runs and didn’t.”

Ursuline scored a third run in the first when Girard pitcher Braydon Freeland tried to pick Walker off second and Armeni raced home.

“You’ve got to give it to them,” Girard coach Aaron Alejars said. “They jumped on us. Tip your hat to them. They put the bat on the ball. We didn’t execute a pickoff. There were four people involved and four people did the wrong thing. They hit the ball and put pressure on us. Give them credit for smart, aggressive baserunning.”

The Indians (5-8) got themselves back in the game with a two-run, two-out single from Austin Claussell in the second.

Freeland settled in from there. He stranded four runners in scoring position over his next four innings.

“He settled down and did a good job getting us to the sixth,” Alejars said.

Walker tripled in Brady Shannon in third as Ursuline took a 4-2 lead and Kreuzwieser got going.

“Joel did a great job,” Weymer said. “He set down 15 in a row. He kept getting 1-2-3 innings and they kept making all the plays they needed to behind him. The offense did enough to win. Sometimes the offense carries you and sometimes the defense carries you. Tonight, it was the pitching and defense that carried us.”

Freeland left in the sixth. He allowed four runs, all earned, on four hits. He also struck out four, walked two and hit a batter.

“He did an outstanding job keeping us in the ballgame and giving us a chance to win,” Alejars said. “The offense didn’t get it done. There were a lot of innings he had to get five or six outs [because of five Girard errors]. He did a great job from the stretch and commanding all four of his pitches.”

Jeremy Kreuzwieser singled and later scored on an error for the Irish’s final run in the sixth.

Dan Yoder recorded the final out to get the save for the Fighting Irish.

Walker had a single, triple and drove in two and Jeremy Kreuzwieser had two hits for Ursuline. Joel Kreuzwieser added a double.

Brady Hunkus singled twice and Claussell drove in two for the Indians.