The Gehlen Catholic baseball team advanced to their second substate final in three years with a 5-0 win in a district final at MMCRU on Saturday night.
The long ball was the name of the game for the Jays who hit two of them en route to a victory. Gehlen did not hit a home run during the entirety of the regular season and has hit four in the postseason. Head coach Loi Kraft says guys are putting in the work in the batting cage, and it is showing.
Dylan Poeckes’ solo home run in the first inning lit the fuse that led to a two-out grand slam from Mason Small that blew the top off the game in the third. Small says he has to thank his dad for helping him get work done to continue to improve during the season.
The bases were loaded in the inning once MMCRU decided to intentionally walk Dylan Poeckes with his previous home run in mind. Small says that fired him up to prove his worth as a dangerous hitter.
The entirety of the third inning’s run production came with two outs in the inning. Gehlen had recorded the first two outs on three pitches, and it looked like it would be a quick inning at the plate. Coach Kraft says his guys never give up on an inning, and they made it happen as a team.
Once again, Gehlen Catholic pitchers were lights out. In three district games, Gehlen pitchers have combined to allow one measly run. Brayden Horkey has pitched the bulk of the innings, but the Jays got a boost from Alex Peters out of the pen to beat the Royals. Coach Kraft says he had all the confidence in the world that Peters would pick up right where Horkey left off.
The Jays will have to square off top-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s in the substate final on Tuesday night. Gehlen has yet to beat St. Mary’s this season making this a challenging proposition. Small says having confidence going into the game will be critical.
After a pair of tough losses to the Hawks earlier in the year, Coach Kraft knows his guys have learned from their mistakes to be better this time around.
First pitch between the Hawks and Jays is set for 7:00 PM in Cherokee. KLEM will broadcast the game live.
