Zach Roth shines in debut, Saxony Lutheran run rules Fredericktown 10-0

Not often do freshmen get to start on the bump, let alone dominate in the season opener, but Zach Roth came to prove he is not the average freshman.

The Saxony Lutheran rookie was lights out in his high school debut, racking up nine strikeouts through five strong innings to lead the Crusaders to a 10-0 victory over Fredericktown on Friday, Mar. 21, at Saxony Lutheran High School in Jackson.

“I’m just grateful that God gave me the ability to do it,” Roth said. “Coach put me in the best opportunity to succeed and I did it. I trusted my teammates around me and, again, I knew God was with me. I was just in my happy place on the baseball field.”

The young hurler thrived in his happy place, allowing no runs on three hits and no walks in what was an electrifying “welcome to high school baseball” moment. Roth also went 1-for-2 with an RBI at the plate.

“He’s a very mature freshman, physically and mentally,” veteran head coach Paul Sander said. “So, not totally surprised. I think what we didn’t know before today was Zach has been a standout at every level he’s played before he got to Saxony, but this was freshmen versus seniors because they had nine seniors on their team today. So, it’s a little different animal for him in there, and he’s not playing against 15-year-olds anymore. He’s playing against 18- and 19-year-olds, so I think he got over that hump real nicely.”

One year after getting thumped by the Blackcats 10-0 on opening day, Saxony flipped the script and used Roth’s dynamic pitching and hot hitting from up and down the lineup to run rule the reigning Class 4 District 1 champions in five innings of action.

Senior center fielder Brayden Moore, who officially signed his NLI with Westminster College on Wednesday, March 19, did the most damage at the dish, hitting a three-run homer in the first and following up in the third with an RBI double.

It was also a historical day for Saxony in terms of efficiency.

“I’ve had a system for 20 years here at Saxony of mental errors, errors and walks in the game,” Sander said. “That number is six or below 95% of the time, and you’re going to be in every position to win if you can keep errors, mental errors and walks below six. Today it was zero. I don’t remember the last time they were zero. We had no walks, no mental errors, no physical errors. That’s extremely unusual for high school baseball, so we were about as good as we could be today. We need to keep that up, but it was an excellent start.”

The Crusaders blew things open in the first inning when junior left fielder Cole Roth delivered with a soaring two-run double following Moore’s three-run shot to cap a huge 6-0 lead.

Then in the third, Moore capitalized with his RBI double before junior Korby Engert belted an RBI single to stretch the lead to 8-0. Saxony piled on with two runs in the fourth when freshman outfielder Kai McDowell and senior first baseman Isaac Koenig both scored on a fielder’s choice ignited by senior Jason Sparks Jr.’s groundout.

Ethan Marler had a rough season debut for Fredericktown, allowing six runs and three hits while walking three in just two-thirds of an inning.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for Saxony, though, was the quick emergence of the program’s promising young talent.

“In my 20 years here, I’ve never started two freshmen in the first game of the year, so it’s a little different,” Sander said. “Zach has a very high ceiling and he’s a quality young man. We started another freshman today in Kai McDowell, who’s the quarterback of the football team, so we have a good freshmen class. I’ve never started a freshman on the mound of the first game of the year, either. So, it worked out well, and you didn’t know how it was going to work out, but we had a lot of other contributors.”

And for Zach Roth, this is only the start of something special.

“There’s more to come,” he said. “Just a great way to build. Coach talked about how we had zero mental errors and zero errors in general. It’s just a great way to start. We’ll build on that, come back to practice on Monday, and be ready for next week.”

The Crusaders will look to keep the early momentum going when they take on Scott City (1-0) in a crucial Class 3 District 2 showdown Tuesday, March 25, at Scott City High School in Scott City.