Pius X claims first tournament win

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BY LORI GRIFFIN / Lincoln Journal Star

With the outs ticking down Tuesday at Den Hartog Field the Lincoln Pius X baseball fans could feel it.

The clapping and foot stomping got louder with each of the final three outs.

And with the loudest claps, the Thunderbolts finished a come-from-behind 3-1 win against top-ranked Omaha Roncalli/Brownell-Talbot. It was Pius X’s first  state tournament win since beating Bancroft in the four-team 1974 Class B tournament before losing to Omaha Gross.

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“We did it with our backs against the wall,” Pius X coach Troy Charf said. “We knew we had a big-game pitcher in (Patrick) Essay and he came through.”

Roncalli scored its only run in the second inning before Pius began its rally in the fourth.

Aaron Molinaro scored the go-ahead run when Tim Tlamka doubled and reached third on an error by the Crimson Pride center fielder.

With the bases loaded in the fifth, Molinaro singled in an insurance run.

“We played poorly yesterday (an 11-1 loss to Omaha Gross), but that score is what it is,” Charf said. “We relaxed more today.

“(Against Gross) we were playing a team we knew we could beat and I think we were looking down the road too much. Shoot, we made uncharacteristic errors and that was real costly. We didn’t make any errors today.”

Pat Essay pitched a complete-game for Pius, giving up just four hits and striking out seven.

“Pat thew an awesome game and the defense made some real nice plays to get ourselves out of some jams.”

Michael Nowak took the loss, giving up eight hits.

Pius’ Eric Schleppenbach and Essay were each 2-for-4, while Joe Bircher and Drew Mathers had all the Roncalli hits.

Omaha Skutt 9, Blair 2

The SkyHawks sent 12 batters to the plate a seven-run sixth inning and took advantage of three walks  by Blair pitcher C.J. Brewer to break a 2-2 tie. Blair finishes the season 11-9, while Skutt raises its record to 12-12. Andrew Gard and Payton Brannen each had doubles in the inning.

Reach Lori Griffin at 473-7174 or lgriffin@journalstar.com.