St. Paul wins state title in a slugfest
by Albert Alvarado, Victoria Advocate
Friday, May 13, 2011
VictoriaAdvocate.com Article | St. Paul Cardinal Baseball | Return to Shiner Home Page
WACO- The Shiner St. Paul Cardinals won a TAPPS state football championship earlier this school year.
Dakota Kresta behind the plate in the finals. photos provided by Lori Raabe
On Friday, the baseball team followed suit with a win in the TAPPS 1A/2A state final with a 19-10 win over Rowlett Rockwall Christian at the Waco ISD Athletic Complex.
The teams combined for 29 runs and 28 hits as the score looked more like a football game than a baseball game.
"We just realized they're going to hit it, so we're going to have to hit it," said Cardinals coach Mark Noska.
After falling behind early, Blue Hybner came in to pitch in the third inning and shut down Rockwall Christian.
Hybner picked up the win in the state final.
Blue Hybner delivers a pitch during the state finals.
This is St. Paul's second state baseball championship in three years.
In 2010, the Cardinals advanced to the TAPPS 1A/2A Final before running into Kingwood Northeast Christian Academy's hot pitcher Jason Horic.
Northeast Christina beat St. Paul 5-1, as Horic had a no-hitter through five before St. Paul scored their lone run in the top of the sixth.
Noska said that loss motivated the Cardinals to cash in on this trip to the finals.
"I know we learned a lot from last year and we came in this year with the attitude that we were going to fight until the end and we definitely had a fight," Noska said.
Rockwall Christian put St. Paul in an early 6-run deficit through the first two innings before St. Paul responded with a five-run top of the third.
Tyler Blanton makes the play at first.
The Cardinals scored 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 15-10 lead and they would not look back.
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