Lauritzen turned in a game for the ages in the opener. The sophomore righthander allowed only four baserunners – three on walks plus a hit batter. He finished with 11 strikeouts and retired the final 13 batters he faced, while throwing 99 pitches.

“He was dominant from the first pitch,” Kreke said. “I thought he had great pace to his game tonight. He changed speeds, he pitched to contact, and he also got swings and misses. It was quite a pitching performance.”

“He did a good job locating his pitches and keeping us off-balance,” McNeely added. “We didn’t put many good at-bats together.”

Effingham starter, Kaden Koberlein, also pitched very well. He gave up six hits and three runs, while walking two and striking out three. He just couldn’t get any offensive support from his teammates.

St. Anthony scored what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the third. Beau Adams led off with a base hit and Lauritzen was hit by a pitch. Adams went to third on a fly ball and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Connor Roepke.

It stayed 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Henry Brent singled, advanced to second on a ground ball and scored on an RBI double by Adams. An error then allowed Adams to race home with the third run of the game.

The second game started out as a pitching duel, as well. This time, it was Brock Fearday for SAHS and Kaiden Nichols for the Hearts.

The Bulldogs got a gift run in the third. With two outs, Brock Fearday reached on an error. Nichols then had him picked off, but Fearday beat the throw to second. Roepke followed with an infield single. Fearday rounded third to far, and again, got picked off. But, again, he beat the throw home to make it 1-0.

The Hearts, who were held scoreless for the first 11 innings of the twin-bill, got on the scoreboard in the fifth. With one out, Spencer Fox singled. With two outs, Braden Verdeyen singled and Jude Traub was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Nichols followed with a line drive single to left that drove in a pair and gave the Hearts a 2-1 lead ­-- albeit briefly.

The Bulldogs responded immediately. And it started with a bloop.

Adams’ soft line drive was barely out of the second baseman’s reach, but went as a lead-off single. Lauritzen then lined a pitch down the rightfield line for a double – the first of back-to-back-to-back two-base hits. Brock Fearday lined a pitch to the centerfield fence, driving in two, and Roepke followed with another run-scoring double. Brady Hatton then launched the first pitch he saw well over the leftfield fence for a two-run homer.

“The mark of any good team is how it responds to adversity,” Kreke noted. “We just got punched in the face and gave up the lead. But we came back and put up a haymaker. We got a bloop and a blast. With this lineup, anybody that gets on base is a potential run. These kids usually hit the ball hard.”

“I thought Kaiden fell in love too much with the fastball,” McNeely explained. “His slider wasn’t there for him tonight, but you still have to throw it. You can’t fall in love with just one pitch. Plus, he got a couple pitches up and over the plate, and they hammered them.”

St. Anthony scored three more runs before that fifth inning was over. Adams drove in one with a sacrifice fly, Brock Fearday added an RBI single and another run scored on an error to make it 9-2.

“I thought we did a good job going up by a run,” McNeely said. “But we knew they wouldn’t lay down. When you see the wheels start to fall off, that’s when you have to compete even harder. That’s what it takes to be a good ballclub.”

The Hearts added a single tally in the seventh on an RBI single by Cam Raddatz.

Brock Fearday came within one out of a complete game, but left after throwing 108 pitches. In 6.2 innings of work, he allowed seven hits and three runs, while walking two and striking out 12. Adams came in to record the final out.

“You know what you’re going to get from Brock every time he takes the mound,” Kreke said. “He used all his pitches tonight and did a good job of getting ahead in the count. He’s a great leader out there on the mound.”

The Hearts dipped to 17-8 on the season.

“I’m frustrated by our lack of competitiveness tonight,” McNeely admitted. “We struck out 13 times looking. That’s way too many times. Plus, we kicked the ball around some. You can’t give that kind of ballclub any help whatsoever. They’re too good.

“These next couple weeks will be the toughest part of our schedule,” the EHS coach added. “We need to get locked in and we need to play better than we did tonight.”

The Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 20-4.

“When you go through some adversity, that’s when you trust in the program and culture we have here,” Kreke said. “These kids hold each other accountable and trust each other. It was nice to get back on track.”