(NOTE: This story appeared the Piedmont Post on 9 April 2008)
Piedmont jumped out in front of St. Joseph (9-4) in the first inning and hung on for an 8-4 win at the College of Alameda last Wednesday. The Highlanders improve to 4-2 in the Bay Shore Athletic League, 10-4 overall. They are second in the BSAL behind undefeated St. Mary's.
Senior Jordan Remer was a double short of the cycle and drove in three runs in a 3-3 hitting performance. He also pitched two perfect innings in relief of starting pitcher Bryce Chu. Remer walked one batter and struck out six to preserve the win. He ranks second in the BSAL in total strikeouts with 56 in 28 innings of work.
Against a lineup loaded with the league leaders in batting average, Chu pitched out of trouble in every inning, but only allowed four hits and gave up only one earned run. His 1.313 ERA is second in the league behind St. Mary's' Matt Flemer. The win over St. Joseph gives him five wins on the season, second most in the BSAL.
Piedmont held the league's top three hitters, all batting over .475, to a single hit each.
Junior Alex Steady, recently recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in the early part of the season, was put in the lead-off position against the Pilots. He reached base three times and scored twice.
Remer's triple after an eight-pitch at bat in the top of the first scored Steady to draw first blood.
Bradsby, who batted 2-3, started the second with a triple, but the Highlanders couldn't bring him in to score.
Steady's lead-off single jumpstarted a three-run third inning in which Piedmont sent eight batters to the plate. Steady stole second, and Remer moved him to third with a single. With runners on the corners and Remer given the sign to steal, Chu hit into a fielder's choice. Steady scored, Remer beat the throw to second, and Chu was safe at first. Senior Alexander Menke then doubled to drive Remer around to score, and Bradsby followed with a sacrifice fly to score Chu.
Patience pays dividends
The St. Joseph pitcher entered the game with a perfect winning percentage, 7-0. He was throwing off-speed stuff all day, and the Piedmont coaching staff instructed their players to draw as many pitches from him as they could. By the end of the third, he had thrown 70-plus pitches.
According to assistant coach Dave
DiFabio, senior Kyle Bonacum smashed a foul ball over the right field fence that easily cleared 400 feet. His lead-off hit in the fourth was somewhat less audacious. He hit a slow roller to first base that trundled Buckner-like through the first baseman's legs.
"We were saying on the bench, 'we have to make that hurt,'" said DiFabio.
Remer stepped up to the plate knowing he had to keep his weight back, that he had to be on the lookout for breaking balls, and that he was going to hit the ball as hard as he could.
"And that's what I did," he said.
Remer crushed the first pitch he saw an estimated 390 feet over the fence in right-center for his second homerun of the season, giving the Highlanders a 6-0 lead.
Piedmont added a run in the fifth when Steady walked to drive in a run with the bases loaded.
The Pilots scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, but Remer emphatically shut the door on them in the seventh and eighth.
Looking ahead
The Highlanders play John Swett (6-7 overall) in Crockett this afternoon. The Indians lost 12-0 to St. Joseph in March.
Remer, who leads Piedmont with a .367 batting average and 13 RBI's, hopes his team can swing the bats with a little more urgency in their next handful of games.
"We were solid on defense during the first half of the season, and if we had been stronger on offense at times, we could be undefeated. I think the games we lost were because of a lack of timely hitting," he said.
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