Dropping a game 12-2 is normally no cause for celebration for a high school baseball team, but Saturday’s game was no ordinary game for the Harrisburg Bulldog summer baseball team. What made this game different was the venue. 

For the second year in a row, the Bulldogs have been able to secure a game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. This year’s game was a little different for the Bulldogs. Last summer, their opponent was the Fayette Falcons and the game was played on a day when the St. Louis Cardinals were out of town. This season, the game was played against the Illinois Class 3 Charleston Trojans, following the game between the Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. That game was a hard act for a bunch of high school kids to follow.

The Cardinals went into the bottom of the ninth inning against the Reds trailing 4-3. Center fielder Dylan Carlson walked to lead off the inning before future Hall-of-Fame catcher Yadier Molina grounded into a double play, making things look bleak for the Cards. Right fielder Juan Yepez singled to right, then yielded to pinch runner Edmundo Sosa who moved to second when pitcher Joel Kuhnel threw a pickoff attempt past the first baseman. That led to Cardinal shortstop Tommy Edman launching a 385-foot walk-off home run to right to set off a Cardinal celebration as the Cards won 5-4. It was Edman’s first career walk-off homer. Approximately one hour after that celebration began, the contest between Harrisburg and Charleston began. The Cardinals implemented special ground rules for the game, including a two-hour time limit. Unlike local leagues in which games are allowed to continue past the time limit if the inning starts prior to reaching the limit, this game was to end immediately as the two-hour limit was reached. 

Another special ground rule banned pitchers from leaving the mound area, unless fielding a batted ball, to avoid wear and tear on the infield grass. 

The final special rule required batters to make sure their bats were dropped in the dirt area surrounding home plate. This was another attempt to avoid damage to the Busch Stadium grass. This particular rule led to some comical moments. When batters, after having walked, would correctly drop their bat in the dirt, a bell would sound over the public address system. Likewise, if a batter forgot and tossed his bat toward the dugout landing on the grass, a buzzer would sound. This resulted in batters taking off toward first after drawing a walk and tossing their bat as they had all season, only to realize they had broken a ground rule. This usually caused them to stop and wait for the buzzer with a grimace on their face before proceeding to their rightful base.

Harrisburg graduate Trevor Smoot took the hill for the Bulldogs in the first inning and bore the brunt of the Trojan attack, giving up five runs on four hits while walking three.

Those five runs gave the Trojans a 5-0 lead through the top of the fourth when Bulldog junior third baseman Carter Bremer led off the inning with a double to left. The next batter, freshman Hunter Caldwell moved Bremer to third with a ground out to second. Senior Logan Fritts then drove Bremer home with a come backer to the pitcher cutting the Charleston lead to 5-1. Following a walk to Bulldog graduate Tanner Lanes, a strikeout ended the uprising for Harrisburg.

Charleston padded its lead in the fourth and fifth innings with runs in each to make the score 7-1. The Trojans then added three more in the bottom of the sixth to take a commanding 10-1 lead.

The score remained there until the top of the eighth when junior Austin Starbuck drew a walk to lead off the inning. Lanes grounded into a fielder’s choice to force Starbuck out at second, leaving Lanes at first with one out. Junior Luke Poulsen then stepped to the plate and promptly delivered a single to center. Charleston attempted to throw Lanes out at the plate, but the throw was not in time. The throw home allowed Poulsen to alertly take second. With the score now 10-2, a strikeout ended the inning.

Charleston added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth as the two-hour time limit expired.

In addition to Smoot, Harrisburg used four other pitchers. Senior Logan Fritts threw four innings, striking out three while giving up five hits. Fritts gave way to Starbuck who pitched one inning striking out two and giving up three runs on four hits.  Senior Brayden Ott gave up one hit and struck out one in one inning of work. Poulsen came on in the eighth inning to finish the game for the Bulldogs giving up two runs on three hits.

The Bulldog offense could not get on track with the double by Bremer being the big hit of the day. Lanes and Poulsen each contributed a single apiece with Fritts and Poulsen gathering the RBIs for the team.

Ott was the defensive star of the game for the Bulldogs, starting a double play for the Bulldogs in the first inning. With runners on first and second, Ott ranged to his right and stretched out to snag a line drive by the Trojan batter for the first out. Ott then scrambled to his knees to fire the ball to sophomore second baseman Ike DeMuth to beat the Trojan runner to the base for the back end of the double play.

Following the game, the two teams exchanged handshakes then lined up for photos before being hustled out of the stadium by Cardinals staff.

The game was a scorer’s nightmare as the coaches substituted and re-entered freely. At one point in the bottom of the eighth, coach Ackman made what can only be compared to a hockey line change, substituting everyone but the pitcher and catcher in an attempt to make sure his entire team got adequate time on the big-league field.