Simply said, last week was a very good week for the Lindbergh High School baseball team.
The Flyers (9-7, 3-2 Suburban West) grabbed three wins in their last four games with victories over Webster Groves (3-2), Mehlville (9-5) and Hillcrest of Springfield. Lindbergh’s lone loss of the week was a disappointing 5-4 setback to Rock-wood Summit on April 18.
“It was one of those things where we started off the week with a really nice ball game against Webster Groves, but then couldn’t hit against Summit,” Lindbergh head coach Darin Scott told the Call. “Finally on Wednesday against Mehlville, we were able to take advantage of some offensive opportunities.”
Against Hillcrest Saturday afternoon, Lindbergh jumped out to a 3-2 lead after one inning and didn’t look back, defeating the Hornets 6-2.
“Coming into that game, Hillcrest was 12-0,” Scott said. “They’ll probably be ranked in the April state coaches’ poll. We now have two quality wins over two ranked opponents (Mehlville and Hillcrest), so hopefully this will help us in the next two weeks.”
Lindbergh was led by the strong pitching performance of Andrew Keltner, who gave up just two runs on four hits. The sophomore hurler also struck out seven and walked just one in his second win of the season. He’s 2-1 overall with a 2.42 earned run average.
“Andrew’s been throwing the ball really well for us,” Scott said. “He’s a crafty left hander that’s got a killer change-up. He’s been making the right pitches at the right time.”
Lindbergh’s Nick Higgs also had a solid afternoon against Hillcrest, nailing down two doubles in three appearances at the plate. The junior third baseman chalked up one run scored and one run batted in as he brought up his batting average to a solid .382.
“Nick started off the season a little bit slow with a broken tip on his middle finger,” Scott said. “But lately, he’s been hitting the ball with some authority to all three fields.”
Lindbergh’s Jon Meyer also had a solid afternoon at the plate, recording one hit and one walk in three at-bats. The junior right fielder scored two runs for the Flyers as he brought up his batting average to .320 with a team-leading 14 singles.
“Jon’s been pretty much hitting solid for us all year long,” Scott said. “He’s also been doing a pretty nice job for us in right field.”
The Flyers are back in action at 4:15 p.m. Friday when they travel to Northwest (9-10, 3-3 Suburban West) for a key conference showdown with the Lions. Lindbergh handed the Lions a 9-6 loss on March 23, but Scott realizes that Northwest cannot be taken likely at this time in the year.
The Flyers are tied for fourth place in the conference with Mehlville and must defeat Northwest to stay in contention for the league championship.
“Northwest is one of those teams where if you don’t come out to play, they can beat you,” Scott said. “We played them early in the season, and they’re the type of team that is very dangerous.”
