Molly Graham is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Seton Catholic Preparatory for AZPreps365.com.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Seton Catholic Preparatory’s varsity baseball team beat McClintock 13-1 by way of a team effort Friday afternoon.

In the middle of a heatwave that put Tempe’s temperature into triple digits, Seton faced the competition without a sweat. Friday showcased freshman and senior talent from both offensive and defensive players, Seton coach Brian Stephenson said.

“McClintock’s a well-coached team, so you gotta play well,” Stephenson said. “Our kids came out, battled the heat and played good baseball.”

Sophomore and first baseman Alec Gerken had an at-bat immediately following a pitching change for McClintock. Gerken said that to apply offensive pressure with a new pitcher, his strategy is to, “just attack the baseball.”

“They gave me a lot of curveballs,” Gerken said. “Seemed like after I hit it pretty hard, they kind of avoided it.”

Senior second baseman and team captain Nathan Mulligan doubled on a fly ball to right field to start the game off for the Sentinels. His co-captain and shortstop Chase Ries singled on a line drive to left field, scoring Mulligan. 

Seton accelerated in the seventh inning, scoring eight runs. A combination of walks, errors and singles contributed to Seton's success. 

Center fielder Marshall Erpenbeck hit an RBI double. This play earned him an RBI and Erpenbeck ended the game going 5 for 1.

In total, the team accumulated nine hits and eight RBIs. Ries went 2 for 5 and now leads the team with 21 hits this season.

As a captain, Ries said he hopes to influence the younger players and help them grow. 

“We were once in their shoes and I want them to know that,” Ries said. “I want them to trust us, and I want them to be able to know that we’re trying to lead them to wins and try to win championships.”

Mulligan said he hopes his younger teammates look up to him and Ries. 

“I think they do,” Mulligan said. “We just try to showcase what we do here at Seton.”

Mulligan said that freshman Caden Valentino is someone he’s excited to see grow in the program. 

“Big Lefty,” Mulligan said. “He’s going to have some great swings.”

Stephenson said that both of his freshmen players this season, Caden Valentino and pitcher Carter Hutchinson, are going to be good players for the team. “We got some good, young kids in this program who are gonna be good moving forward,” Stephenson said.

“We got some seniors who are playing really well for us right now: Nathan, Chase, Jason and Drew,” Stephenson said. “It’s good for those freshmen to see that.”

Senior Drew Campagna pitched over the pitch limit for seniors during Seton’s game against Florence on March 17.

Stephenson said he kept Campagna in over the pitch limit because that game was a region game. The Sentinels beat the Gophers 11-10, and are looking forward to having Campagna throw on Friday, March 27.