A Piece of Cake with a Shot of Confidence

After a week that featured the Heartbreaker at Snowden Field on Thursday and the Scrimmage Stomping on Sunday, Tuesday night's 20-hit, 16-run cakewalk against the Lindenwood Lasers was enthusiastically embraced by the shell-shocked Saints -- particularly fan-favorite Thomas Eubank, who broke free of his season-slump by going 2 for 2 with a triple and a 3-run dinger.

The Lasers may have been out-gunned in all phases of the game, but the Saints know that all the sunflower seeds in baseball cannot mask the bitter taste still lingering from last week's 11-10 loss to another "out-matched" team. So pardon the Anchormen if they aren't exactly sorry for Tuesday's blitzkrieg; they understand better than most that anybody can beat anybody anytime -- a baseball truism that always bites the hardest when experienced for the first time.

So the Saints went to work tonight with focus and intensity, pounding six home runs, launching 13 shots into the outfield for extra bases and batting a season-high .741. In fact, seven of the Home Twelve batted 1.000 tonight -- by far the highest number this season. And while the team's two 1.000 hitters fell from the ranks of perfection, the game's natural balance was achieved with Eubank's strong batwork.

But the splinters have been splendid all year; the leather has been the bugbear. Not tonight -- the Saints converted five putouts in six attempts. That's a fielding percentage that wins jamborees.

The game started ominously when Zach fielded a daisy cutter cleanly but Knoblauched the ball over Owen's head at 1B, resulting in the base runner moving to second on an E5. Whit picked up his teammate and showed strong situational awareness by making a textbook play on a soft grounder to SS -- he attempted to tag the runner moving to third on the hit, but alertly fired to first to get the sure out when the runner avoided the tag (most likely by illegally running outside the baseline). A bang-bang play that would have been called a double play in a more competitive environment.

Nino and Harris paced the defense in the second inning with a nice Barnes-to-Tennyson 4-3 putout, and Harris took care of business with a unassisted putout for the third out. Whit made an unassisted putout on a nubber in the third, and Harris snagged a can of corn in the fourth for the fifth put-out of the game.

After a game and a scrimmage in which the glovework was lacking, this game could prove to be a turning point for the young fielders.

While the field work began on dubious note, the stick work did not -- Whit stroked a rainmaker to left that had "jack" stamped on it from the ping of the metal. His first big fly of the season put a charge into the dugout as all the Saints erupted in cheers.

Little did they realize it was a scene that would be repeated five more times.

After the home run, Nino, Zach and Sonny ignited a rally that was only snuffed out by a unassisted double play by the Lasers' first baseman on a pop-out by Harris.

T-Dog lead off the second by jerking a ball to deep left, racing around the bases for an easy home run. Again, the bench was supercharged, but eyebrows were being raised: after one home run in three games, two had fallen in their laps in two innings of the fourth game?

After a whiff by Berent and a solid double to left by Brian, Wendell hammered a line drive to center that got behind the fielder and rolled a long, long way. In fact, Wendell missed third base while motoring around the bases, had to re-tag the base and still made it home before the ball reached the infield.

Then Eubank stepped to the plate and yanked a three-bagger to left -- possibly the most gratifying hit of the season. A proud father breathed a sigh of relief in the stands, and an equally relieved ballplayer was cheered by a bench of players out of control with delight. Definitely a memorable moment of 2009.

Owen ended the inning on a very close play at first.

In the third, Coach Barnes made a Svengali pass in front of Whit's lamps and he carved three nicks in the weather; in other words, Whit whiffed -- ending his quest to bat 1.000. (It's an admirable strategy: shoot for the moon and if you fall short, you're still among the stars.)

Whit whiffing did not silence the bats -- Nino drove a double to center, Zach sliced a homer to right, Sonny smashed a long ball to left (watching Sonny motor around the bases was testimony to the distance of his shot), Harris scorched an infield single to SS, T-Dog jacked his second homer of the day, a two-run shot to left, and Berent drove one past the center fielder for the third homer of the inning and the fourth of the day. The six-run mercy rule ended the inning.

The fourth was more of the same as Brian jacked his second double of the game to left, Wendell bounced one off the pitcher for an infield single and Money stepped to the dish for his second at-bat of the game. After going 0 for 6 with 6 Ks in the first three games, Eubank went yard with a deep drive to center that brought in three ribbies. As Whit said after the game, it was the most exciting hit of the game.

Owen followed it up by driving a double to right -- particularly gratifying to the Big O since he had whiffed and grounded out to first in his first two ABs. After Whit blooped one to the pitcher that was dropped for an infield hustle hit, Nino joined the Home Run Derby by jacking one to center. The six-run mercy rule ended the inning.

While lacking the drama of the 11-10 gut-wrenching loss to Holy Communion, the victory was precisely what the Saints needed to steady the apple cart heading into the team's bye on Thursday.

Saints win! Saints win! Saints win!