“Winning the NTC is important to us,” said Kreke, now his second year as St. Anthony’s baseball coach. “It’s another feather in our cap as a school and as a program. We hope to hold up another championship plaque Friday night.”

Kreke has stressed being aggressive on the base paths since taking over the program and Wednesday’s game showed why. The Bulldogs had only six hits in the game, but took advantage of eight walks, four South Central errors and three wild pitches.

Oh, and by the way, St. Anthony also swiped eight bases.

“We want to play like we’re on fire and be aggressive right from the beginning,” Kreke explained. “We want the other team to know we will take extra bases if they give them to us. We want the other team to throw the ball around.”

The Bulldogs set the tone in the opening inning at Lions Field in Kinmundy. Logan Antrim drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Antrim broke for third base and scored when the catcher’s throw got by the South Central third baseman.

“Everything started right there with Logan,” Kreke said. “That run helped take the pressure off us and put it on them. I thought that was huge.”

But not nearly as huge as the 10-run explosion in the third. And the first five runs scored without a hit.

Jack Hoene was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Antrim walked and both runners moved up on a double steal, the first of three double steals in the inning. Kaden Fearday then lifted a fly ball that the centerfielder dropped, allowing Hoene to score the first run of the inning. Davis Tingley followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Aaron Webb walked and went to second on a bunt by Kennan Walsh. Brody Niebrugge then hit a ground ball to the shortstop, but his throw got past the first baseman and two more runs crossed the plate. After Eli Moore walked, Kreke called for another double steal that worked to perfection. When the throw was made to second, Niebrugge raced home with another run, increasing the lead to 6-0.

Angelo Mendella, the ninth batter of the inning, got the first hit, a bloop double down the rightfield line that brought in Moore. After Hoene and Antrim both walked to load the bases, Kaden Fearday grounded a base hit to right that drove home two, Tingley lined an RBI single to left and another double steal accounted for the final run of the inning.

“We didn’t have a lot of hits today, but our situational hitting was excellent,” Kreke said. “We showed why it’s important to put the ball in play.”

That was more than enough runs for Gavin Braunecker and Colton Fearday, who combined to allowed just one run on three hits. Braunecker went the first two innings and Fearday finished up.

Kreke said he might start Braunecker again Friday in the championship game.

“Gavin only threw 45 pitches today, so he could throw up to 90 on Friday,” the coach noted. “If he feels fresh, I’ll certainly consider riding our ace.”

The Bulldogs tacked on three more tallies in the fifth. There were three walks, two errors on one play that allowed two runners to score, and a base hit by Tingley to drive in his third run of the game.

St. Anthony will take its 17-6 record and No. 3 seed into the finals against Altamont. The two teams played three games in two days earlier in the fall. The Bulldogs defeated the Indians 10-1 on September 6 and then split a doubleheader the next day. Altamont won the opener 7-3 and St. Anthony took the nightcap 10-4.

“You always want to be playing your best at the end of the year and I believe we are,” Kreke said. “For us, it comes down to everyone buying into one purpose and playing for each other. We graduated a great senior class, but our guys have stepped up this year to fill those roles and provide great leadership.”

As for playing in yet another NTC Tournament championship, Kreke said his team “knows what’s at stake. We’ll be prepared.”