Florence blanks St. Stanislaus

Behind the pitching of Walker Ladner and Garrett Alliston, Florence held off St. Stanislaus 2-0 in Game 2 of the Class 4A State baseball playoffs on Sunday.

The game finished Sunday because of bad weather. The contest was called in the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday.

St. Stanislaus (15-10) will host the decisive Game 3 at 6 p.m. Monday night.

“Their pitchers threw strikes and did what they had to do,” Rockachaws coach Mark Logan said. “We had one guy get past second base in the game. That’s it. The delay and us having to come back up here had no factor. They played with a lot of energy and we didn’t.”

The Florence pitching staff held St. Stanislaus to three hits, all singles.

Walker Ladner (7-1) started Saturday, but lasted four innings. He gave up one hit and struck out four. Ladner also had three singles to lead Florence’s offense.

Garrett Alliston finished the final three innings, giving up two hits and striking out four for Florence (16-12).

“Biggest thing for us is to be mistake free early,” said Florence coach Kelly Greer. “We were able to capitalize on some opportunities early in the game, got runs across and pitched well enough to win.”

Nick Hertz (6-2) took the loss on the mound for St. Stanislaus. He lasted three innings, giving up three hits, two runs (one earned) and striking out two.

So now it’s on decisive game three.

“If we play like we did today and yesterday, it won’t be good for us,” Logan said. “We got to come out and play well and hit, or we’ll be done.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Florence blanks St. Stanislaus."