Portland St. Patrick at Saranac – – Baseball Doubleheader – – Game 1 – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 18, 2023 – – by Chuck Krafft

Today, your Bleacher Denizen’s travels take him to Saranac where the Red Hawks will host the Shamrocks from Portland St. Patrick in a baseball doubleheader. Today was a big day for your Bleacher Denizen in his “real” life as for the first time, one of his You Tube Videos made it to 10,000 hits!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnetrJFi6o

I also finished up a cover of this old country song from 1952 and got it up on You Tube today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6GOgZAHqxI My friend, Mark Wilcox and I may be “Too Old to Cut the Mustard”, but we can still sing and play!
Enough about me!! We’re here to watch the Shamrocks and the Red Hawks play some baseball.

Here are the starting lineups! Saranac is the home team and St. Patrick will bat first.

PORTLAND ST. PATRICK SHAMROCKS:

Lucas Simon cf

Jerryd Scheurer ss

Brayden Simon 3b

Brady Leonard p

Charlie Thelen c

Nathan Fears lf

Tyler Groothuis 1b

Riley Mosser rf

Simon White 2b

SARANAC RED HAWKS:

Max Olsen ss

Sam Sterzick p

Cam Cook 1b

Maddox Foster c

Grady Proctor 3b

Chase Stephens cf

Evan Johnson lf

Mitch Jackson rf

Travis Whipple 2b

It is now time to look at the results of this game through the eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who will always treasure the memory of the only fair ball he ever hit in Little League. I’m especially proud that the ball rolled to the shortstop. As a right-handed batter that means I pulled it – – at least sorta – – –

Lucas Simon was safe at first on an error to lead off the top of the first inning for St. Patrick and stole second base. He advanced to third base on a grounder to the pitcher by Jerryd Scheurer. Saranac Pitcher Sam Sterzick retired the next two batters to end the inning while holding the Shamrocks scoreless.

Max Olsen led off the bottom of the first inning for Saranac with an infield single. Max Olsen advanced to second base on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left field by Sam Sterzick. Cam Cook blasted a triple to deep right center to drive Sam Sterzick home. Lucas Simon struck out the next Red Hawk batter. Grady Proctor walked. Shamrock Catcher Charlie Thelen fired the ball to second base to catch the runner stealing. Saranac made its final out on a grounder to first base.

Saranac scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Charlie Thelen was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the second inning for St. Patrick. He stole second base. Sam Sterzick retired the next Shamrock batter on a grounder to first base. Tyler Groothuis was safe at first base on a catcher’s interference call. Sam Sterzick struck out the next batter. Simon White belted a double to deep left field to drive in Charlie Thelen and Tyler Groothuis.

Lucas Simon was hit by a pitch. Simon White stole third base and then Lucas Simon stole second base. Jerryd Scheurer singled to drive in Simon White. Lucas Simon was able to score when an error was made on the play and Jerryd Scheurer also advanced to second base. Sam Sterzick struck out the next batter to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored four runs in the top of the second inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Evan Johnson was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third inning for the Red Hawks. He advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Mitch Jackson. Brady Leonard retired the next batter on a grounder to the shortstop. Evan Johnson advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Brady Leonard struck out the next batter to end the inning.

St. Patrick’s third inning leadoff hitter was out on a foul popup to the catcher. Charlie Thelen walked. Nathan Fears belted a double to deep center field and Charlie Thelen moved to third base. Sam Sterzick struck out the next batter. Riley Mosser doubled to left field to drive in Charlie Thelen and Nathan Fears. Sam Sterzick fanned the next batter to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the top of the third inning to push its lead to 6-2.

Sam Sterzick beat out an infield hit to open the bottom of the third inning for Saranac. Charlie Thelen fired a strike to second base to catch the runner stealing. Cam Cook singled and stole second base. Brady Leonard retired the next two batters on a fly to left field and a grounder to the mound to end the inning.

Lucas Simon beat out an infield hit to lead off the top of the fourth inning for the Shamrocks. He stole second base and advanced to third when Jerryd Scheurer beat out a bunt down the third base line. Jerryd Scheurer stole second base; Lucas Simon scored on an overthrow. Sam Sterzick retired the next batter on a popup to second base and struck out the next batter; Jerryd Scheurer stole third base on the third strike.

Charlie Thelen smacked a double to deep center field to drive in Jerryd Scheurer. Sam Sterzick struck out the next batter to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning to bring its lead to 8-2.

Chase Stephens singled to right field to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for Saranac. Evan Johnson was hit by a pitch and Chase Stephens went to second base. Brady Leonard picked the runner off first base. Mitch Johnson was out on a fly to deep left field. Shamrock Left Fielder Nathan Fears made a quick throw back to the infield to keep the runners from advancing. Brady Leonard picked the runner off second base and retired the next Red Hawk batter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Tyler Groothuis walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning for St. Patrick. Red Hawk right fielder Mitch Jackson made a fine play in deep right field to catch a long drive by Riley Mosser. Tyler Groothuis stole second base and took third base on a wild pitch. Sam Sterzick struck out the next Shamrock hitter. Lucas Simon singled to left field to drive Tyler Groothuis home.

Jacob Neff entered the game to pitch for Saranac. Sam Sterzick moved to second base.

Jerryd Scheurer doubled to drive in Lucas Simon and scored when Brayden Simon was safe at second base on an error. Jacob Neff retired the next batter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

St. Patrick scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 11-2.

Max Olsen singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning for Saranac. Brady Leonard retired the next Red Hawk batter on a popup to second base. Max Olsen took second base when Cam Cook was safe at first on an error. Brady Leonard struck out the next hitter. When Grady Proctor was safe at first on an error, Max Olsen advanced to third base and Cam Cook to second.

Shamrock Left Fielder Nathan Fears made an excellent backhanded catch of a drive to left field by Chase Stephens to end the inning. (If that got past him, Saranac could have scored three runs.) Saranac was not able to score in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Jacob Neff struck out the Shamrock leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning. Nathan Fears walked and stole second base. He advanced to third base on a grounder to the mound by Tyler Groothuis. Jacob Neff retired the next batter on a grounder to first base for the third out.

Brady Leonard struck out the Red Hawk leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Mitch Jackson beat out an infield single. Jacob Neff was safe at first base and Mitch Jackson out at second base on a fielder’s choice grounder to the third baseman. Hunter Helminski entered the game as a courtesy runner for Jacob Neff. Brady Leonard retired the next Red Hawk better on a fielder’s choice grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

Simon White walked to lead off the top of the seventh inning for St. Patrick. Lucas Simon singled to center field and Simon White advanced to second base. Simon White took third base and Lucas Simon second when Jerryd Scheurer grounded out to second base. Brayden Simon drove in Simon White with a sacrifice fly to deep center field. Lucas Simon advanced to third base on the play.

Brady Leonard bashed a single that took a bad hop past the shortstop to drive in Lucas Simon. Red Hawk Third Baseman Grady Proctor made an excellent play ranging to his left to take a hit away from Charlie Thelen and threw to first base to end the inning.

The Shamrocks scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 13-2 lead.

Jerryd Scheurer came in to pitch for St. Patrick. Brady Leonard moved to third base and Brayden Simon took over at shortstop.

Sam Sterzick was safe on an error to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for the Red Hawks. He advanced all the way to third base on a wild pitch and scored when Cam Cook was safe at second base on an error. Jerryd Scheurer struck out the next Red Hawk batter and retired the next hitter on a fly to left field. Jerryd Scheurer struck out the next batter to end the game.

Saranac scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

St. Patrick won the first game of this doubleheader by a 13-4 score.

Cam Cook had a triple, a single and two RBI for Saranac. Sam Sterzick and Chase Stephens each had two singles and one RBI. Max Olsen had two singles. Mitch Jackson had a single.

Sam Sterzick pitched four and two thirds innings for Saranac and struck out eight batters. Jacob Neff pitched two and one third innings. He gave up only two runs and struck out one batter.

Jerryd Scheurer had a double, two singles and two RBI for St. Patrick. Lucas Simon had three singles and one RBI. Riley Mosser and Simon White each had a double and two RBI. Charlie Thelen had a double and one RBI. Nathan Fears had a double. Brady Leonard had a single and one RBI. Brayden Simon had one RBI.

Brady Leonard pitched six innings for the Shamrocks and gave up only two runs while striking out four batters. Jerryd Scheurer pitched the final inning and gave up no earned runs. He also struck out two batters.

Here is a link to the second game of this doubleheader! https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2023/05/19/portland-st-patrick-at-saranac-baseball-doubleheader-game-2-the-bleacher-denizen-may-18-2023-by-chuck-krafft/