De Smet Rips Parkway North In District Baseball Opener

Even in their wildest imaginations, it would be hard for   varsity baseball coach Greg Vitello or coach Fred Friedman to have thought Monday’s MSHSAA district baseball opener would begin like it did, or finish the way it finished.

But before the spillover crowd could even get settled in, the hard-hitting De Smet squad made sure the matchup so many had come to see as part of the first day of the high school playoffs, would be no contest, launching two first-inning home runs, as part of an 11-run first that eventually led to an 18-1 Spartan win.

“I’m as surprised as anybody,” Vitello said. “I researched Parkway North a lot to get ready for this game, and they’re a pretty good team. But what happened was they’re pitchers challenged our hitters, and we swung the bats well.”

Boy did they ever.

In that first inning alone, De Smet ripped five base hits off Parkway North starter Danny Heim, including a two-run double by Brian Graf.

But the big blows in the inning were the lead-off home run by Killian Knowles and the three-run blast by De Smet starting pitcher Kyle Bouman.

The Spartans sent 14 men to the plate in the first inning, and produced five hits, five walks, a hit batter, two home runs, and an 11-0 lead before the Vikings  even knew what hit them.

“There’s not a lot you can say on a day like today,” Friedman said. “That team we faced today, nobody was going to beat a team that hit like that today. They just spanked the ball all day.”

Indeed they did.

In the second inning, De Smet drilled five more hits, including RBI singles by Eric Judd and the third hit of the day for Bouman.

But the big blow of that inning was an opposite-field grand slam by Knowles, his second homer of the day, and third long-ball of the season.

“We’re definitely one of those teams that kinda goes the way our leadoff hitter goes,” Vitello said. “He was kinda kicking himself in the heinie the other day, because he didn’t have a good day at the plate (against CBC last Wednesday). But today, he really had a good stroke.”

Parkway North did get one run back in the top of third, on an RBI double by Michael Bozarth.

But that wasn’t nearly enough to prevent North from suffering one of its worst playoff losses in school history.

“We’re not gonna beat a dead animal and yell at anybody for mistakes they made today,” Friedman said. “The kids know where they messed up. When you’re out on the field and the other team’s outperforming you, you know it. So I told the kids, if this is the low point of your life, then you’re gonna have a pretty good life.”

Bouman (3-3), the winning pitcher for the Spartans, put the final exclamation point on the day, when he lauched a deep home run over the centerfield fence, his second of the day and fifth of the season, to make the score 18-1.

Vitello didn’t know for sure, but said he thought the four Spartan home runs in a playoff game were a school record and the 18-1 final had to be “near some kind of record.”

“Hitting is contagious,” Vitello said. “When the first guy gets a hit, then the second guy, and then the third guy, well then the whole team starts thinking, ‘hey, we’re hitters, let’s go hit,’ and then everybody kinda gets in on the act.”

With the victory, De Smet advances to the district semifinals, where it will meet old rival CBC Tuesday, for the right to advance to Thursday’s district championship game.

That matchup will be played at in Creve Coeur and is scheduled for a 4:15 p.m. start.

The winner would meet the winner of the other semifinal contest, or Francis Howell North, Thursday at.

Parkway North finished the season with a 13-14 record.