Hazelwood West Baseball Gets Back Over .500 Mark with Mercy-Rule Win Against Riverview

FLORISSANT – Even though his team lost two of the three games it played against some really good teams from St. Charles County at the last weekend, varsity baseball coach Matt McClellan believed the greater benefit for his Wildcats was just getting to play some games again.

Because of that crazy rain period back near the end of April, the Wildcats were only able to squeeze in one game during the two-week period from April 14 - 28.

That’s just not enough action for a team to stay sharp, and McClellan felt that once his guys were back in a routine, they would play more like the team he believed them to be all year.

This coach was indeed right, as West has been on quite a roll this week, winning all three games it has played in increasingly convincing fashion, including a bat-crackin’ 16-2 romp against Riverview Gardens High on Thursday.

“We’ve been good up to this point,” McClellan said. “We’ve just got to keep going.”

The Wildcats did damage early and often against the Rams, scoring four runs in the first, two in the second, four more runs in third, and six tallies in the fourth, before finally closing Riverview out in a five-inning, mercy-rule shortened game.

Junior Kurt Aldrich (2-4) got the start and earned the win for West, tossing four shutout innings at Riverview, while outfielders Trevor Jones and Joey McCune delivered the big blows with the bat.

Senior centerfielder Jones had a three-RBI triple in the bottom of the third, then later scored on a sacrifice fly that pushed Riverview to the brink of the 10-run lead, mercy rule taking effect.

And junior leftfielder McCune also smashed a three-run triple in the bottom of the fourth that put the Wildcats over the top, and ensured that the contest wouldn’t go any longer than it needed.

“We’ve been playing some good baseball this week,” McClellan said. “But our focus turns to tomorrow. I just told the guys that we’ve got one more to go, and we could make it a real good week.”

West played Ritenour High on Friday, in a game that has been postponed two other times this season because of rain.

And because that game has been rained out twice, and a scheduled home game against McCluer North on April 26 was also postponed, West hasn’t played a true home game in nearly a month.

McClellan said he and his squad can’t wait to get back to Beckemeier Field, and play an actual home game for the first time since an April 7, 18-8 win against Hazelwood East.

“We’re definitely excited to be back at home,” McClellan said. “We only had six (home games scheduled) this year. So we’re really looking forward to playing back at our own place.”