“Quest hasn’t had a whole lot of opportunities to get on the mound this year,” McNeely noted. “But he did an excellent job tonight. When he’s around the zone, he forces you to swing the bat, and relies on his defense.”
For the second night in a row, that Hearts defense was flawless, committing zero errors. And Matteson threw out three of four runners trying to steal a base. He gunned them down in the third, fifth and seventh innings.
“This is two games in a row we put all aspects of our game together,” McNeely said. “We’ve done that at times this year. The last two nights we’ve really been locked in and battled all seven innings.”
The Hearts grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Matteson was hit by a pitch and Camden Raddatz singled. After both runners moved up a base, Gabe Eaton delivered a two-out, two-run single to stake EHS to a 2-0 lead.
Effingham then added three more runs in the third. Gauge Massey walked and Harper then drove the first pitch he saw over the rightfield fence for a two-run homer. Then with two outs, Matteson singled and came around to score after a base hit by Raddatz and an error in the outfield.
Both teams scored a run in the fifth. Colton Fearday was hit by a pitche and Connor Roepke singled. With two outs, Eli Levitt lined an RBI single to get the Bulldogs on the board. But the Hearts responded in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Myles Maxedon.
St. Anthony scored its final run in the seventh. Roepke walked and scored with Josh Blanchette doubled.
Brody Niebrugge was the starter for SAHS and took the loss. He went 2.2 innings, allowing six hits and five runs, while walking one and striking out two. Brock Fearday pitched the final 3.1 innings.
“Effingham is well-coached and played with a lot of energy,” St. Anthony coach Tony Kreke said. “We just weren’t able to match that. They earned this. They have a good team that looks to attack and score. I’m very impressed with them.”
The Bulldogs dipped to 16-8 on the season. They will close out their regular season by competing Saturday in the Greenville Round Robin.
“It would be nice to get a win as we enter the postseason,” Kreke noted. “We have to find a way to get our guys on base and get back to playing team baseball. And I think we will.”
The Hearts improved to 14-10. After the final game of the City Series, EHS will play Monday at Olney.