Lindbergh Suffers Playoff Upset, Loses District Opener To St. Mary's

The emotionally thrilling and surprisingly exciting 2012 high school baseball season came to a disappointing and sudden end for the baseball team on Saturday, when the Flyers lost their first round district playoff game, 5-4, to St. Mary's Catholic High of St. Louis at LHS' Flyers Field.

Lindbergh, which came into the district tournament as the No. 2 seed, was hosting the seventh-seeded Dragons, in a matchup that would earn the winner a trip to the district semifinals and a date with No. 3 seed Rockwood Summit on Monday, with the district championship game scheduled for Tuesday night at the Ballwin Athletic Association.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, they won't be seeing either of those games after getting upset by St. Mary's on Saturday.

'High school baseball is a tough game," Lindbergh baseball coach Darin Scott said. "And this was one of those really tough lessons this game teaches you, that if you don't execute and make silly mistakes, you're going to get beat. That's what happened to us today."

And it was a totally atypical performance for the Flyers, who had come into the district playoffs with a 17-10 record and a reputation as one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the area.

On Saturday though, Lindbergh lost three runners on the basepaths, committed two errors in the field, and gave up the game-winning run when starting pitcher Patrick Shuff threw two wild pitches during the same at-bat.

St. Mary's senior Thomas Garcia ripped a double to the wall with one out in the top of the fifth inning. And neither of the Dragons' next two batters could even make contact on Shuff's erray of fastballs and breaking pitches.

but two of those curveballs wound up in the dirt and got past catcher Kendall Helbert, which allowed Garcia to reach third, then score the run that gave the Dragons a 5-4 lead.

"I didn't think either one of them really did anything wrong there," Scott said. "It was just one of those things. Like I said, baseball is a funny game. And sometimes it just goes against you."

It seemed like the breaks were determined to go against Lindbergh on Saturday, as the Flyers led 2-0, 3-2, and rallied to tie the score at 4-4, before finally falling by the 5-4 scored.

Senior Matt Feldt and junior Jordan Harmon was the Flyers standouts at the plate, with two hits and two runs scored apiece, while senior Jesse Manness had two RBIs.

But in the end, Lindbergh just couldn't solved St. Mary's starter Adam Bieber once his team got him a lead in the late innings.

"We've kind of had trouble with lefthanders all year," Scott said. "And that kid is a really good pitcher. We just have to tip our cap to him, and St. Mary's. They just played a better game than us."

It was an especially emotional loss for the Lindbergh seniors, who Scott credited with helping lead the Flyers, a team many thought might be in for a down year this year, to one of the most successful baseball seasons in Lindbergh recent history.

"I love those kids," Scott said. "They're just a bunch of guys that just made up their minds that they were going to have a good season. They took on so much responsibility in being leaders out here for us, I'm just proud of what they did out here this year. It's just too bad it ended like it did."

The Flyers finished the year with a 17-11 record, while St. Mary's, which is now 12-14, will play Rockwood Summit in the district semifinals on Monday.

Score by Inning   1   2   3   4   5   6   7  -   R   H   E
St. Mary's             0   0   2   2   1   0   0  -   5    9   2
Lindbergh            1   1   1   1   0   0   0   -   4    6   1