Eaglets win twin bill nightcap with Teklinski's three-run homer

Weather played havoc with Orchard Lake St. Mary’s this past week, as did Dearborn Divine Child for one game, but the Eaglets ended last Saturday celebrating a walk-off victory under the sun.

St. Mary’s defeated Dearborn Divine Child, 6-3, in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, April 9 on a game-winning, three-run home run by Kevin Teklinski with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“It was awesome, and it should be a good emotional lift,” said Matt Petry, St. Mary’s new head baseball coach. “Hopefully, we’ll start swinging the bats better.”

Blaise Salter also hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to draw the Eaglets (3-4 overall, 2-4 in the Detroit Catholic League) within a run, at 3-2.

St. Mary’s starting pitcher Steven Morse stumbled out of the gate, surrendering three runs, but managed to calm down and pitch a complete game.

“Morse didn’t pack it in and he shut them down,” Petry said.

The second game was in contrast to the opener of the doubleheader, in which St. Mary’s fell 6-1.

The Eaglets had no answer for Divine Child starting pitcher Eric Haase, who pitched a complete game and struck out 11 batters on top of hitting two home runs.

“We were very limited. He throws very hard,” Petry said.

The Eaglets were scheduled to face Novi Detroit Catholic Central at home on Monday, April 11 after rain postponed their originally scheduled meeting on Wednesday, April 6 and their makeup date on Friday, April 8.

St. Mary’s will next travel to Detroit Jesuit today, Wednesday, April 13 before traveling to Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice on Saturday, April 16.

Petry takes over for Nick DiPonio, who has departed the program after six seasons at the helm of the Eaglets team, including two runner-up finishes in the Division 2 state finals.

Petry originally played baseball at Brother Rice and the University of Michigan and was the JV head coach at Dexter last season.

He was set to coach the JV team at Brother Rice this season before he heard about the opening at St. Mary’s and took the position.

“I’m trying to prepare these kids for the next level, kind of like a pro or college approach,” he said. “It takes some time to take the personality of the coach, but the kids are adapting well.”