8th grade baseball team's rally falls short, Jeremy homers

**Highlights Updated**

It didn't take long for the 8th grade baseball team to get going, as Jeremy hit the first St. Mary's home run in three years as he took a pitch and blasted it into deep right field, giving St. Mary's a 1-0 lead.

But the 8th grade couldn't hold their leads of 1-0 or 3-2, and a 7th inning rally fell short, as the boys lost 5-4.

Down 5-3 in the top of the 7th, Jeremy and Hartman struck out to start the inning. With two outs, Mark reached on an infield single, and was driven in on a double by David.

Miles then swung at the first pitch of his at-bat and popped out to end the game.

Trailing 2-1 in the 6th, David reached on an error, stole second, and was driven home on a single by Miles to tie the game.

Miles was at third when the other team threw a wild pitch. Miles, with a heads up play, darted for him and slid awkwardly underneath of the catcher's tag to give St. Mary's a 3-2 lead.

However, David already hit the maximum amount of innings he could pitch in five and Mark was summoned on in relief to protect the lead.

Mark began the 6th and got off to a rough start walking the first batter, which eventually came around and scored to tie the game. But the sloppy defense, which committed three errors, two in the sixth, led to two more runs, which made it 5-3.

This was the best St. Mary's baseball game in years, and a lucky bounce here and there, we would be celebrating their first victory.

In the end though, the plays that need to be made in the field were not made, and it cost them dearly.

However, this was only the team's second game, so it was a huge step forward to say that they played in a game they should've and could've won.

At the plate, they did better than expected, and collected a total of six base hits on this soggy afternoon.

Timmy got his first base hit to lead off the 3rd inning, when he lined a ball sharply through the pitcher's legs. He also reached on a fielder's choice later in the game.

Miles went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and belted a ball down the left field line in the 1st inning. However it landed a few feet foul, and he eventually struck out to end the first.

David reached base all three times, and had two doubles and an RBI.

On the mound, he showed good control in his five innings of work and struck out a total of 10 batters in the game.

Defensively, David made some nice plays in the field to get out of jams and Mark made a nice catch on a bloop to end the 4th inning.

The weather held up for most of the afternoon, until late in the game when the rain started to come down.