PBR MN Spotlight Game of the Day- St. Paul Como Park vs. St. Paul Harding
May 13, 2015
By Spencer Flaten
Staff Writer
Prep Baseball Report Minnesota
Spotlight Game of the Day- st. paul como park vs. st. paul harding
SAINT PAUL, MN- May 12, 2015
The St. Paul Como Park Cougars kept up the pace in the race for the St. Paul City Conference title with a 4-1 win over conference foes St. Paul Harding on Tuesday afternoon.
Offense was hard to come by as pitching was the name of the game in this contest. Como Park pitcher Jacob Vandome dominated the Harding offense all game long. The senior threw a complete game with 12 strikeouts and only allowed four hits.
Harding starter Will Tzavaras pitched exceptionally well too. The southpaw struck out 13 batters and scattered five hits, but ultimately took the loss.
Neither team could really figure out the opposing pitcher, but Harding’s defense let them down on the few occasions in which Como Park actually put the ball in play, which allowed Como Park to take advantage of some big opportunities.
The Cougars got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd inning with some clever base running with men on first and third. Vandome took advantage of a throwing error on the play to score the game’s first run.
Como Park tripled their lead in the bottom of the 3rd after a couple of RBI hits.
The Knights took one run back in the 4th inning when Franklin Cruz Estevez ripped an RBI single off of Vandome’s leg. Vandome was clearly not rattled by the incident, as he struck out the next batter to end the inning.
The Cougars added their final insurance run of the game in the 5th thanks to another error on the Knights.
Harding threatened to come back in the 7th when Cruz Estevez and Tzavaras started off the inning with back-to-back singles, but the rest of the Knights’ lineup failed to bring them in to score.
Cruz Estevez went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Knights, while teammate Anthony Pacheco went 1-for-3. Vandome led the way for the Cougars with a 1-for-2 performance.
Como Park is now 11-4 this year, while Harding fell to 11-7. The two teams will play a rematch against each other on Wednesday night at the home of the St. Paul Saints.
