STLCC baseball team plays after the Cardinals over Labor Day Weekend
Spencer Gleason
-Sports Editor-
Moments after the final out is made during the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, on Sunday, Sept. 4, the STLCC Archers and Lewis and Clark Community College Trailblazers will take the field. It will be the second meeting between the two teams at Busch Stadium.
After last year’s walk-off winner at Busch Stadium against the Trailblazers, 8-7, in the bottom of the ninth, the Archers look to continue their magical run on their field of dreams.
“I think talent-wise, we’re looking very good,” Tony Dattoli, head coach, said after Tuesday’s practice.
“The pitching has been very good. We’ve gone through stretches where we’ve hit the ball extremely well, but that’s been very inconsistant. The two things that matter most, though, are that our defense has played well and our pitching has been good. We’ll be able to manufacture runs, hopefully, on Sunday.”
The Archers will take all 47 players to experience a day at the ballpark. Carrying 18 pitchers and three defensive groups, Dattoli will pull all the strings to make sure everyone has a chance to play on the same field as Albert Pujols Chris Carpenter and even Meramec’s own David Freese.
“We think we’ve kind of come up with a fail-proof plan where we’re three deep at every defensive position,” Dattoli said.
“Guys will rotate in every inning. Defensively, almost everybody gets a chance to play three innings… The toughest thing is getting the pitchers in and making sure everyone gets a chance on the mound.”
The Lewis and Clark Trailblazers will bring experience to the baseball diamond.
Trailblazers’ head coach, Randy Martz, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1977 and was a major league pitcher in the early 1980s.
His career record of 17-19 and 78 strikeouts in the big leagues has helped draw young ball players to Godfrey, Ill.
As for Dattoli, it will be his eighth game coached at Busch Stadium. His record sits at 6-1 at the major league ballpark.
Both coaches know what it means to step foot on a major league field and the opportunity to coach in the same dugout as Tony La Russa allows Dattoli to live a fantasy for a brief moment. Then it will be time to get down to business as usual.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to coach in a major league ballpark it’s great,” Dattoli said. “I’ll be just as giddy as they will when we first start. I think I’ll be a little more nervous than they are because I don’t ever want to be beat in that game… We want to make sure that we keep things going on that [winning] track.”
Fans of Archer baseball are able to get tickets for 25 dollars until Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. in the athletic office on the Meramec campus.
