YALE — Have a day, Jaxson Distelrath.
With two hits and six RBIs, the sophomore third baseman powered the Richmond High School baseball team past St. Clair, 6-1, in an MHSAA Division 2 district final at Yale High School on Saturday, May 30.
The Blue Devils improved to 23-2 overall and advanced to next week’s regional semifinal against Goodrich.
“(Distelrath) singlehandedly put us on his back and carried us today,” Richmond coach Scott Evans said. “He’s kind of been our guy all year … he’s unshakable. I was happy to see him have quality at-bats.”
The Saints finished the season 22-9.
“We gave up too much; I think we had seven, eight walks,” St. Clair coach Alex Duffiney said. “(Richmond) had a couple timely hits. We had the bases loaded — multiple times — and we didn’t have those hits.”
In Richmond’s third at-bat of the game, Distelrath drilled a three-run home run to right field.
“I felt really confident (at the plate),” Distelrath said. “I felt like I could hit anything.”
“(Those early runs) were huge,” said Richmond center fielder Logans Evans, who is also Scott’s son. “Going into this (game), we knew we needed at least five runs.”
An inning later, Distelrath drove in three more on a double down the right-field line.
“I had two strikes on me,” Distelrath said of the at-bat. “I didn’t want to get burnt, so (I was looking for) anything close. I got something low, threw my hands at it and it went right down the line.”
Meanwhile, Blue Devils starting pitcher Cam Sutherland retired the first eight St. Clair batters.
“Each pitch has a life,” Sutherland said. “And when it dies, it’s gone — just get to the next one.”
The Saints got on the board in the fourth inning when junior Hunter Freeland scored from third base on an error. However, they couldn’t capitalize down the stretch with runners in scoring position.
“Obviously, that’s not the way you want to go out,” said Duffiney, who finished his first year as St. Clair’s coach. “But this (season) was just a step in the right direction for us.”
Richmond’s regional semifinal is 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at Yale High School.
“I’m just looking forward to competing,” Sutherland said. “I want to get another game for the seniors.”
“When coaches get a good group of kids that pull for each other, it becomes pretty special,” Scott Evans said. “We’ve had great, great leadership … I just can’t say enough about how (our players) keep rising up and getting better and better.”
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @BrendenWelper.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Distelrath powers Richmond baseball to Division 2 district title
Reporting by Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
