Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Griffin Laufersweiler makes a play for St. Edmond on Tuesday at Rogers Park. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Hayden Derrig was magnificent on the mound in leading the St. Edmond baseball team to a 1-0 victory over South Central Calhoun here Tuesday evening at Rogers Park.

Derrig, a senior and Central College commit, struck out 15 batters and allowed just a lone first inning single while working out of jams all night in the season opener for both.

Max Webster drew his second hit-by-pitch in the third to score Max Nguyen for the lone run as the Gaels (1-0 overall) worked five walks from Titan (0-1) pitchers.

“What a performance by Hayden,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “He was in command out there. Hayden calls all his pitches and does a wonderful job of knowing what he needs to do.

“I thought our defense was great, especially for the first game of the season, and we had plenty of positives. Sure, there were some negatives, too, but anytime you get a win you’ll take it.”

Koleman Hanson, a sophomore, drew three walks and stole two bases. Derrig had a double and also had a base on balls. St. Edmond did strand six runners in scoring position, but Derrig was able to pitch around trouble in the first, fourth and fifth to keep SCC off the board.

“Hayden is such a student of the game,” Szalat said. “He just loves baseball. When he needed to make a big pitch, he did.”

In the fourth, Derrig walked the first two batters before striking out the next three. He again had three Ks in the fifth after South Central Calhoun put runners on second and third.

Derrig retired three straight by strikeout in the sixth and finished off the night with his 11th swinging K.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids that are really learning the game out there,” Szalat said. “We made some mistakes, but they are all correctable.

“Koleman did a wonderful job, Kade (Schlegel) continues to lead for us as an upperclassmen, and Max (Nguyen) drew that key walk in the third that led to the winning run.”

For the Titans, Andrew Anderson reached base twice and stole a base. Kaden Dorman recorded the lone hit.

St. Edmond returns to the diamond on Thursday, May 23, when they host Manson Northwest Webster.

South Central Calhoun welcomes Woodward-Granger Friday for its home opener.

ST. EDMOND 1, SOUTH CENTRAL CALHOUN 0

SCC 000 000 0 — 0 1 0

SE 001 000 x — 1 2 1

WP–Hayden Derrig (1-0, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 15 K, 4 BB). LP–Brendan Stone (0-1, 2+ IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 2 BB). 2B–SE: Hayden Derrig. RBI–SE: Max Webster. SB–SCC: Andrew Anderson; SE: Kinnick Henning, Koleman Hanson (2). LOB–SCC: 6; SE: 7.