Bloomington Switch KOs St. Genevieve

Kevin Kane stood on the left-field line at Franklin Field on Friday, minutes into an unexpectedly early postseason, and searched for explanations.

“I guess we were kind of like a boxer who came out cold,” the St. Genevieve coach said after the second-seeded Valiants were upset by Bloomington, 10-2, in a Southern Section 2-A Division quarterfinal baseball playoff game. “We took it in the jaw early and we were dizzy from that for a while.”

Make no mistake, the early rounds of this contest were decidedly Bloomington’s as the Bruins (16-9-2) unleashed a flurry of blows to score five runs in the top of the first inning.

But after that, Bloomington switched roles from slugger to boxer. Mike Genthner, the Bruins’ wily coach, coldly calculated his team’s every move, right down to his six pitching changes that limited St. Genevieve to just four hits.

That’s right, six pitching changes.

And when the final bell rang, Bloomington was still standing.

Genthner started right-hander Johnny Cortez but replaced him with left-hander Robert Smith whenever Cortez was forced to go into the stretch--which was often.

As a result, Cortez and Smith (9-4), who wound up earning the win, switched roles in the outfield and on the mound five times in the first four innings before surrendering mop-up duties to reliever Evric Gray, who escaped Genthner’s rapid hook in working the final three innings.

“That was planned coming in,” Genthner said of the maneuvering. “Smith is my number one pitcher, but he had gone six and seven innings in our first two playoff games. But you gotta go with your best, so I told Cortez every time he had to go from the stretch I’d bring in Smith.”

Independent of the Bruins’ revolving door on the mound, there was another reason that the Valiants (20-3-1) will not advance: a defensive breakdown that resulted in four first-inning errors behind starter Mike Rohrbough (9-2).

Kane’s plan to rest ace Roland De La Maza was shelved after Rohrbough loaded the bases in the top of the second with St. Genevieve trailing, 5-2. But De La Meza provided no immediate help, surrendering a two-run single to Mason Branham that made the score 7-2. Rohrbough allowed seven runs--three of which were earned--in 1 innings.

“They just take it to you,” Kane said in reference to Bloomington’s 10-hit attack, which included three hits by Adrian Sanchez. “But I know we’re a good team and they just happened to be a better team. We just have that much to look forward to next year.”

Kane’s players, however, had a more difficult time reflecting on the positive after watching their season end two wins short of the championship game in Anaheim Stadium.

“They’re a good team, but I think we’re better,” said De La Maza, a junior. “I just hope we can do the same thing next year, but further.”