Ladue Rallies Past University City

Ladue baseball coach Rob Garrett gathered his team in front of the dugout before the start of the bottom of the fifth inning Monday.

The Rams trailed University City 4-3 at the time. The words must have worked as Ladue scored four in the fifth and held on for a 7-6 victory.

"I didn't feel like we were playing our game," Garrett said. "We seemed to be sluggish and lackadaisical. I told them to show some pride."

Ladue did just that as it came out aggressively in the fifth inning with their first three of five hits coming on the first pitch off Lion southpaw Will Evans.

"Coach told us that it looked like they really wanted the game and that we had to step it up," Ladue center fielder Lex Kaplan said.

Kaplan was the one player who had stepped it up prior to the fifth inning as he hit a three-run homer which followed two walks in the bottom of the third for the first Ladue runs. It was his third homer of the season for the left-handed hitter. All of the homers have come against southpaws.

"I really don't mind hitting against lefties," said Kaplan, who hit the ball far over the left center field fence. "I knew that one was out. It really felt good."

The Rams still trailed going into the fifth as U. City had scored three in the top of the third before Kaplan's homer in the bottom of the inning. C. J. Jones had a two-run double which capped off the three-run inning for the Lions.

It appeared that U. City had taken the lead in the fourth when lead off hitter William Kneller hit a long fly ball down the left field line. It had home run distance but was ruled foul, though.

"That was a huge call," Lions coach Rick Seim said. "It changed the dynamics of the inning. But if the umpire called it foul, it is foul and you have to go on."

U. City did eventually score a run in the inning on a double by Tyler Buckner and a wild pitch.

 Hamm Hooper led off the eventful Ram fifth with a single on the first pitch from Evans. Lucas Tamaren drew the third of his four walks in the game. Kaplan followed with a single on the first pitch to tie the game. Hagan Dunn then doubled on the first pitch to drive in two. Turner Miller added an RBI single in the inning which turned out to be huge as U. City's Kevin Phillips hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to one.

Mitch Montaldo came into the game in the seventh inning and retired the side in order, the final two outs coming on strikeouts. It was only the second inning that Montaldo has thrown this season. The right-hander, who is coming off a shoulder injury, pitched the sixth inning in a 3-2 win over John Burroughs last week.

"The goal was to come back before districts and I felt good out there today," Montaldo said.

Ladue improved to 15-4 for the season while University City fell to 10-14.

"The two walks before the home run to the nine and one hitters crippled us," Seim said. "And then he got all of it. I was pleased with the way we scrapped the entire game. We did not quit."

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