Lindbergh baseball team finding its groove
By STEPHEN GLOVER
For the Call
Certain points throughout a season can determine the success and failure of an athlete or even a team.
The Lindbergh High School baseball team may have hit that point on Monday afternoon of last week when the Flyers suffered a 5-1 upset at the hands of Mehlville. The loss frustrated Flyers Head Coach Darren Scott to the point of challenging his players to reach down deep and get their act together.
“It was a tough loss,” Scott told the Call. “We didn’t hit well, in fact we didn’t do anything offensively. Got to give credit to Mike Shore who threw a pretty good game for them (Mehlville).”
Flyers senior starting pitcher Mark Spinner received the loss as he gave up five runs in six innings pitched. Spinner did retire three batters via strikeout and ended up walking two batters. Despite the loss, Scott was quick to praise his starting pitcher’s effort.
“Mark threw the ball pretty well,” Scott said. “We just didn’t get it done offensively for him at all. He probably had his best stuff all season in that game.”
Lindbergh (8-5, 2-4 Suburban West) re-bounded from its loss to Mehlville with an important 5-4 win over Lafayette which kept the Flyers out of the basement in the conference standings.
“They’re (Lafayette) a perennial powerhouse in our conference,” Scott said. “Our kids responded well after the Mehlville loss and I was happy that we cam back and got a win against Lafayette.”
Senior center fielder Chris Zellers scored the game tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a wild pitch which immediately energized the Flyers bench. Zellers had reached second on a sacrifice hit by senior first baseman Ryan Karand-jeff. Scott was quite pleased with the performance by the two seniors in their win over the Lancers.
“Chris is really coming into his own in his senior season,” Scott said. “Ryan has become a dangerous hitter anytime he’s at the plate. I’ve become really confident that when he’s up at the plate, we’re going to get something done.”
Junior pitcher Charlie Schinsky received the win as he came in during the sixth inning to relieve junior Dan Gabris on the mound. Gabris threw 5 1/3 innings and gave up four runs on four hits. He retired two batters on strikeouts and walked four. Schinsky blanked the Lancers in 1 2/3 innings in which he struck out two batters and walked one for the win.
“Dan kept us in the ballgame,” Scott said. “He did a nice job in keeping their hitters off balance. Charlie did a nice job in holding them scoreless for nearly two innings. He pitched really well for us.”
The Flyers return to action this Wednes-day as they play host to Parkway Central in an important conference match.
The Colts handed Lindbergh a 7-1 loss earlier this month and Scott is hoping to turn the tables on Parkway Central this time around. Lindbergh will finish out the week on the road at Kirkwood on Friday afternoon.
“We had a rough first inning against Parkway Central the last time we played them,” Scott said. “As for Kirkwood, we had a slugfest the time before and came out on top 13-12.
