Frazier’s complete-game outing helps lift Althoff past Columbia

In his first start of the season and less than a week removed from being part of Althoff’s state basketball championship, senior right-hander Jake Frazier was ready to roll.

Frazier handled the wind and cold of a spring March day just as easily as he quieted the Columbia bats on Thursday, firing a complete-game four-hitter as Althoff moved to 3-0 with a 3-1 baseball victory over the Eagles at Whitey Herzog Field.

“I’m actually kind of surprised I threw the whole game, coming back from basketball my arm wasn’t in the greatest shape,” said Frazier, who struggled a bit in the seventh but still needed only 88 pitches to close out the win. “I’m just lucky I got all seven innings in and got the job done. It feels good to be throwing well again. Last year I didn’t get to pitch a whole lot because I had an oblique injury and then a back injury in the summer. Getting back on the mound feels really good.”

Key performers

He looked good, too. Frazier allowed four hits and struck out seven, allowing his only run in the second inning. Columbia (3-2) managed only two hits over the final five innings.

“I was hoping for five innings, but that was about it,” said first-year Althoff coach Randy Wells, a Belleville East graduate, when asked about his expectations for Frazier. “He kept his pitch count pretty low and was able to grind it out. It was a pretty gutsy performance.

“We had a couple guys that could have thrown (in relief), but that was his game to finish.”

Althoff got some help from Columbia errors in both innings it scored against Eagles ace Andrew Hoguet (1-1).

Hoguet also pitched well, allowing six hits and striking out five in six innings.

Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the second on Sam Spivey’s sacrifice fly.

Key sequence

Althoff’s Dale Hassall reached on a one-out single in the fourth and a wild throw to first on a double-play attempt allowed the Crusaders to tie it. A two-out RBI single by Trey Mosley gave Althoff a 2-1 lead.

Another Columbia error led to Althoff’s final run in the sixth after Hassall led off the inning with a single.

“On a day like this when it’s cold, the pitching and the defense is going to take you a long way,” said first-year Columbia coach Neal O’Donnell. “Our defense let us down a little bit. Last night in our game we had a similar situation where Roxana scored five in an inning very similar to that.

“When you make mistakes on a day like this when it’s cold, when you don’t have a lot of offense, it’s going to hurt you.”

Wells agreed.

“It was a tough game, they jumped out early and we had to grind,” Wells said. “Obviously the story line is Jake Frazier, but we’ve been stressing all year about trying to put good at-bats together. We were fortunate enough to take advantage of the errors.”

Cameron Roth had three of Columbia’s four hits, including a double in the second.

Youngster behind plate comes through

Frazier and Wells both credited the strong job done behind the plate by Althoff freshman catcher Jack Toenjes.

“I was really trusting my fastball a lot today and I’ve got to give a huge shout-out to our catcher Jack Toenjes,” Frazier said.

Wells was a catcher throughout high school and college before shifting to pitching while in the Chicago Cubs minor-league system, eventually finding success in the major leagues He still let Toenjes call the pitches on Thursday.

“Great job by him. He’s a freshman and he didn’t play like it today,” Wells said. “He played like a senior. He had some big key moments that most people don’t get credit for in the box score, believing in the pitch that he wanted to call when Jake shook him off.

“He played beyond his years today.”

O’Donnell said All-Area senior outfielder Cameron Touchette is sitting out a five-game suspension for disciplinary reasons. Touchette was the second-leading hitter in the St. Louis area last season with a .556 average, two homers and 24 RBIs; he will return to the lineup on Saturday.

The Eagles are also starting four or five sophomores on a regular basis.

“We’ve got to work on our approach, especially early in the count, to put some better swings on the baseball,” O’Donnell said.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "Frazier’s complete-game outing helps lift Althoff past Columbia."