DuBourg shuts out Lutheran South

AFFTON — The DuBourg baseball team’s growing pains over the past three seasons are paying big dividends this spring as the Cavaliers are proving to be one of the best squads in the St. Louis area.

On Friday, ace righthander Matt Linderer tossed a shutout and the lineup pounded out 15 hits as DuBourg defeated host Lutheran South 9-0 for the squad’s ninth consecutive victory.

“When they were freshmen, we looked at this and we knew when they were seniors all the fruits of the struggling times as freshmen and sophomores would pay off,” DuBourg coach Joe Groaning said. “Last year I think we were close but we weren’t quite over the hump. Now this year it seems like we’re hitting on all cylinders.”

The Cavaliers went 12-11 three seasons ago, then 14-8 the next year and 15-8 last season. DuBourg, which is ranked first in the Post-Dispatch small-school rankings, improved to 12-1 with Friday’s win.

The Cavaliers got a base hit from every player in the starting lineup, and six different players — Jimmy Schwent, Mikey Cebulski, Linderer, T.J. Zychinski, Tim Althage and Tony Mazzuca — registered two hits. The lineup also combined for six walks.

Schwent, a senior second baseman, was a catalyst for the offense with two singles, two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base.

He singled in the first, stole second and scored to give DuBourg a 1-0 lead. He had an RBI single and then scored as the Cavaliers scored five runs in the third inning, which included five consecutive hits.

“I think he’s a big key to this offense starting to click,” Groaning said. “He’s leading the team on the bases, running, he’s hitting the ball really good. You could tell as a sophomore and a junior that he had the right skills, but it was a matter of putting it all together.”

Linderer (4-0), who has signed to pitch at the University of Missouri next year, scattered six hits over his seven innings of work, struck out six batters and walked one among his 113 pitches. He has allowed just three earned runs in 32 innings so far this spring.

Lutheran South (9-5) had batters reach base in every inning except the seventh, but the Crusaders only had one baserunner reach second base and weren’t able to advance anyone to third base.

“They are a good ballclub,” Lutheran South coach Steve Pfund said. “They mix in a lot of lefties. They’ve got good team speed. They outplayed us in every phase of the game today.”