On April 15, Park’s boys baseball team played the Benilde Red Knights in their first of two regular-season matchups. The game went back-and-forth, with Park leading 3-3 at the bottom of the fourth inning. Park gained the upper hand in the fifth, making it 8-3, but eventually lost to the Red Knights 10-8.
Junior first baseman Logan O’Dea said the game was neck and neck until Benilde came out on top. He said although Park lost, he had a good game and he won’t forget about his performance.
“We had a lot of hits go our way, a lot of hits go their way. Stuff happens at the end of the day, someone comes up,” O’Dea said. “Today was a game I will remember. I had a walk, I was hit by a pitch, a hit and an ending strikeout that I’m still going to regret.”
Senior captain Cole Denham said he had a decent game, starting off the game strong. He said the team struggled to keep it going at the end of the game and that the team could use a boost of energy.
“I did very well. I had two hits at the plate and an RBI. I wish my last at bat was better, but overall, pretty good,” Denham said. “We started off really strong (in the) first couple innings, and then that sixth inning we kind of fell apart. The energy kind of went down, and that’s been a problem lately. We’ve got to get the energy up for all seven innings.”
Head coach Brian Kelly said the team had a few kinks and mechanics that could have been better during the game. He said since it’s early in the season it’s something the team will work on.
“We hit pretty well. I thought we didn’t do enough pitching defensively. We put way too many guys on walks, hit batters and made some crucial mistakes in big spots,” Kelly said. “They were a little bit tougher team today than us, which was disappointing, but the good part is, it’s early in the season, so we have a lot of opportunities to bounce back there.”
Denham said this game hurt a little more to lose due to the long and storied rivalry between Park and Benilde.
“With all due respect to them, I don’t like them very much. Every time I play my hardest and I want to beat them. It’s a good rivalry, but you know, you never want to lose it,” Denham said.
Kelly said being an alum of Park doesn’t make any difference when it comes to the rivalry of “Highway 100.”
“I went to St. Louis Park, grew up here. You always want to beat the guys across Highway 100, so having a five-run lead late in the game and then trapping it away is a devastating loss,” Kelly said.
Denham said the early games at the start of the season aren’t too much of a bother, but he prefers the primetime games.
“I don’t mind them too much. I mean, I do prefer the 6:00 p.m. games or the 7:00 p.m. games more than the 4:30 p.m. games,” Denham said. “They give me more time after school to go home, get a bite to eat, change, maybe do some recovery stuff and get ready to go to the field. But it is what it is. We don’t have too many of them, so not too big of a deal”.
O’Dea said the early games aren’t easy to prepare for due to the quick travel-to-game turnaround.
“This is one that you just got to be ready for. You’re preparing in school. It’s all mental focus and you want to be ready before the game. I mean, you’re coming off the bus from a five-minute drive, and you’re here and you’re ready to play,” O’Dea said.
Kelly said that playing the early games doesn’t affect the team much. He said that no matter the time the team will show up ready to play.
“I don’t mind these 4:30 p.m. away games because we can just kind of show and go. It feels a little bit like youth baseball,” Kelly said. “I like the early games, early in the season, but everyone likes playing those 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. prime-time games, but honestly, I think we’ll always play like Park. We’ll always kind of play anybody, anytime, anywhere.”
Park’s next game is at Edina at 5:00 p.m. April 18 at Braemar Field.
