Mehlville Baseball Breaks Through in Comeback Win Over U City

After losing three consecutive games in increasingly maddening fashion, Mehlville coach Tim Ode was frustrated with how his team was playing.

But Ode, who was the assistant baseball coach since 2004 before taking over the head job this spring, knew he needed to be patient with his young Panthers, and allow them to figure out the problems from earlier in the week.

On Saturday, the Panthers came through for their coach, rallying from four runs down to defeat University City, 12-10.

“This week, we struggled with giving up that big inning,” Ode said, following Saturday’s big win. “It hasn’t been just four-run innings. It’s been anywhere from six to 11 runs we’ve given up in a big inning. So we’ve just mentally lost our focus. But we showed the ability to bounce back today.”

After five innings, Mehlville trailed 8-4, thanks to a six-run outburst for U City in the fourth. But the Panthers banged out five hits and six runs of their own to take the lead at 10-8.

Seniors Grant Steiger and Mark O’Moran had the key hits in the inning.

Steiger drilled a bases-loaded single to left that drove in two and tied the score at eight. Then Steiger stole second base to put runners at second and third. O’Moran followed with a line-drive single to left-center that drove in both runners and gave Mehlville the lead for good.

“We had actually been struggling in that same situation earlier in the week,” Ode said. “But Grant and Mark both had big hits today, and drove in some key runs in key spots. They got the job done today.”

The Panthers added two more runs in the top of the seventh and those scores proved important as U City got two tallies of its own in the bottom of the seventh, thanks to a two-run double by Jake Mavropoulos that made the score 12-10.

Despite giving up the two runs, Mehlville made a key play on Mavropoulos’ hit that essentially won the game for them.

When the ball left his bat, it looked like it might leave the park. Instead, it banged off the wall, allowing the two runners that were on base to score easily.

However, Mavropoulos wanted more than a double on the hit, so he took off for third, trying to leg out a triple. Mehlville strung together two perfect relay throws and gunned him down at third for the second out of the inning.

Winning pitcher Clayton Walden got the last out on a lazy fly ball to left, and Mehlville escaped with a 12-10 win.

“I was hoping to do better than 1-3 this week,” Ode said. “But the way that one went, I’ll take it. We’ve got a lot we need to work on. But this was definitely a good way to end the weekend.”

The victory lifted Mehlville back to the .500 mark at 5-5. They’ll look to move over the median line with four important games this coming week.

The Panthers will play home matchups with Suburban West Conference rivals Lindbergh (5-2) and unbeaten Parkway South (8-0) this week.

Parkway South is one of only six remaining unbeaten teams in the area and Ode knows his team is in for one of its toughest challenges of the season this week.

“We’ve got some tough battles coming up,” he said. “We’ve got Lindbergh and Parkway South this week, and Oakville and Lafayette next week. So it does not get any easier. We’re going to have to come out and have our A game starting on Tuesday and Wednesday.”

The Tuesday-Wednesday matchup for Mehlville will be against Lindbergh. The Panthers will play at Lindbergh on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m., and then play the Flyers at home on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.

Mehlville plays at Parkway South on Friday at 4:15 p.m., then will host Parkway South on Saturday at noon.