By Matt Wallisa

This week is going to be a grind in Cincinnati's Greater Catholic League with three of the top teams, Elder, Xavier, and Moeller, facing off with a division title on the line.

Just a game behind No. 10 Elder in the standings, the 14^th ranked St. Xavier Bombers put themselves in a tie for second place with a 5-1 victory.

The contest featured a showdown between two of the top pitchers in the GCL. Senior Jake Sambrooke took the hill for St. Xavier while junior Joe Ramstetter toed the rubber for Elder.      

Elder struck early in the top of the first. Senior Anthony Asalon (University of Indianapolis recruit) walked and later moved to second on fielder’s choice.  

With an opportunity to end the inning, St. Xavier’s infielders did not communicate and as a result, a pop fly by junior Jimmy White fell in the infield. On the play, Asalon hustled all the way from second to score and put Elder up 1-0.

Despite falling behind, St. Xavier struck back in the bottom half of the inning.

Senior Connor Hundley walked to lead off the inning. Fellow senior Michael Hedgebeth followed with a single. However, after an error in the outfield from Elder, both runners advanced to third base and second base respectively.

With runners in scoring position, Elder’s second baseman made an error on a ball hit by sophomore Jordan McDonough (OSU recruit), which allowed both runners to score and McDonough to reach base.  Senior Griffin Dolle hit a single to move McDonough to third base and put runners on the corners.

Ramstetter attempted a pickoff to first base, but made a throwing error, which allowed McDonough to score and Dolle to advance all the way to third base.

After a RBI double from senior Dominic Plagemen,  St. Xavier took a commanding 4-1 lead and never looked back.

For added insurance, St. Xavier struck again in the 6^th inning as  junior Joe Gellenbeck hit a single.  Dole added his second hit of the day with an RBI double that pushed the score to 5-1 in favor of St. Xavier.

Sambrookes closed the door in the 7th inning and registered a complete game on senior day. He limited the Elder offense to two hits while maximizing his efficiency on the mound. He faced the minimum in three different innings.

Ramstetter took the loss while giving up one earned run over 5 innings of work. 

The win moved St. Xavier and Elder into a tie in second place with 7-2 division records. Moeller continues to sit in first place with a 7-1 record.