The Totino-Grace baseball team finally started to cure its cabin fever on Saturday afternoon. 

 

“It’s just kind of fun to be out,” Eagles coach Mike Smith said after his team held off Benilde-St. Margaret’s to win their season opener 4-3.

 

“We’ve been in a gym with the weather being so lousy,” Smith said. 

 

“I think this is our third time being outside all year, which has been kind of a bummer,” junior Kyle Halverson said. “We’ve been getting good work done in the gym, but it’s nice to get out here."

 

Halverson's time in the gym seems to be paying off, as the infielder drilled a pitch over the left field fence for Totino-Grace's fourth run, and collected his first career homer at the varsity level on Saturday.

 

“It was awesome,” Halverson said with a grin. “(I) kind of popped it up and wind kind of took it. A nice strong wind from left field.”

 

The home run ball hasn’t made its way to Halverson’s hands yet, but he’s hopeful it will soon. 

 

“I did not get it yet,” Halverson explained. “My dad might’ve grabbed it.”

 

Before Halverson's homer in the sixth inning, the Eagles took advantage of some erratic pitching by Red Knights juniors Derek Drees and Matt Brooks, who each walked in a run with the bases loaded in the third.

 

Senior pitcher Alec Spevacek gave the Eagles three shutout innings to start the game, then watched his 3-0 lead disappear as Benilde-St. Margaret's senior catcher Riley Simonetti drove in three runs over the game's final two innings. 

 

Spevacek says that he feels no animosity toward his relievers. 

 

“You’ve got to hand it to your other (pitchers), and get to see what they can do,” Spevacek said. 

 

“They all went hard at the plate, they all threw hard,” Spevacek continued. “They did the best they could, and in the end we did well.”

Junior infielder Kyle Halverson hit a home run in the top of the sixth inning that proved to be the insurance run Totino-Grace needed to edge Benilde-St. Margaret’s 4-3 on the road Saturday afternoon.

 

The Eagles (1-0), ranked No. 14 in Class 4A by Let's Play Baseball, took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third, as Red Knights junior pitchers Derek Drees and Matt Brooks each walked in a batter with the bases loaded. Totino-Grace senior catcher Jen Rataczak also drove in a run on a single.

 

Senior catcher Riley Simonetti drove in all three runs for Benilde-St. Margaret's (0-1), hitting a homer in the sixth and driving in two on a single in the bottom of the seventh to pull the Red Knights within one at 4-3.