Archers play college-style baseball in a major league ballpark
By: Spencer Gleason
-Sports Editor-
When the STLCC Archers and Lewis and Clark Community College Trailblazers took the field at Busch Stadium on Sept. 9, the home plate was still peppered with dust from St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter’s slide in the bottom of the tenth, to win their game 5-4 over the Milwaukee Brewers. The batter’s box still had remnants of where Cardinal outfielders’ Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday had dug in, in the bottom of their first inning and hit homeruns to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. It would not be the only time three runs were scored in the bottom of a first inning that day.
As the 6:05 p.m. first pitch-start time drew closer, the temperature evened off at 74 degrees. Under a cloudless sky the Archers scampered out to their positions, just as the big leaguers do.
“I still say the biggest moment is when you walk out the gate and you find yourself on a major league field and in uniform. It does not happen too often,” Archers head coach, Tony Dattoli said. “It is a good time for the guys and to see them. They have a gleam in their eyes. That is why we do it. So they get a chance to be out there. That is what it is about.”
When the Archers dug in the batter’s box, in their half of the first inning, infielder Matt Leinberger led off with an infield hit to the Trailblazers’ second baseman. Leinberger came around to score the game’s first run and the first of three runs the Archers would score in their bottom half of the first inning, en route to a 12-3 victory over the Trailblazers.
Leinberger’s mother, Tracey Naughton, sat in the second row beside the third base dugout as she watched her son play in his first college baseball game at Busch Stadium.
“He scored the very first run of the season and I have it on video,” Naughton said.
The Archers scored three runs four times, in four different innings, while only allowing the Trailblazers to cross home plate three times; twice in the fourth inning and once in the top of the eighth.
The victory gave Dattoli and STLCC a three game winning streak against the Trailblazers at Busch Stadium, beating them in 2010 and 2011 as well.
“[When] you get an opportunity to get out to an early lead, it relieves a lot of tension. Obviously, the biggest thing is that you are on this stage and you do not want to go down shorthanded or play from behind,” Dattoli said. “The fact that we were able to pitch a good first inning and come out and score right away, that alleviates a lot of pressure off of the guys. This game is so mental that if they can play relaxed, then good things happen.”
The eight-inning game concluded once time expired after two-and-a-half hours. It included 75 position players between the two teams and 24 pitchers. Each roster was emptied so every player could step foot onto Busch Stadium’s baseball diamond and play to the St. Louis city skyline.
An Archers victory was icing on the cake.
“It is nice to be able to keep the streak alive and get the guys to come out here. They played well,” Dattoli said after the win. “We had some quality at-bats. We threw the ball really well and made some nice plays on the field. It is always good to come out here at Busch Stadium and get a win.”
