Maplewood Richmond Heights baseball made history this season, winning districts for the first time in 51 years, but met their match against the hitting of St. Pius X in state sectionals at Deer Creek Park on Monday.
Senior pitcher, Rich Rasmussen gave MRH a chance into the fourth inning, holding the Lancers to one with off-speed pitches. St. Pius did the most damage in the fourth, scoring five against Rasmussen and junior fast-ball reliever, Zech Biship. MRH fell to St. Pius 10-0 in five innings, finishing the season 15-10.
“We had out chances offensively, just couldn’t quite get the key hit,” coach Jonathan Webb said. “We certainly advanced the program.” MRH beat Brentwood in the district final 5-3.
Webb said the three seniors performed at a high level this year, and especially in the stretch run.
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The rest of the team were underclassmen. “These guys have gotten a taste of it. Success is the expectation now,” Webb said. “Hats off to these guys, but we’ve got a lot of room between where we are and where our ceiling is.”
Rasmussen said the winning season was due to Webb, who was named coach when Rasmussen, Jacob Speed and Andrew Volz were freshmen.
“Maplewood baseball didn’t exist to anyone except for the guys that showed up, and then Webb came in,” Rasmussen said.
He said a lot of the guys on the team were expecting a different coach, and Webb didn’t care. “He turned the program around, and we weeded out anyone that didn’t want to play or had a bad attitude, and four years later we won a district championship.”
GREAT SEASON MRH Blue Devils. Hats off to the team for Winning Districts. Coach Webb said, “….we’ve got a lot of room between where we are and where our ceiling is.” It would be great to see some Jr. Varsity games next year. JV games would allow our undercalssmen to play and prepare for their big day in varsity baseball.
MRH Blue Devil Baseball, thanks for making us so proud!
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