St. Mary is proving that its 2007 run deep into the state Division IV tournament was no fluke.

The Eagles, 10-4 overall, split with Mesick last week with their eldest players away river rafting in the Appalachian Mountains for their senior trip. The previous week, St. Mary set back Rudyard.

The Eagles beat Mesick in the Regional final of 2007, then fell to Rudyard in quarterfinal action while finishing 28-7.

The past week of play indicates that the Eagles have a steady stream of talent to continue that level of success.

On Tuesday, St. Mary opened Cherryland Conference play with 15-3, 16-1 wins over Traverse City Christian. Pitcher Tyler Shaffran won his first varsity game in the nightcap, and coach Steve Plamondon started using freshmen — and eighth graders, as allowed because of the small size of the school — by the second inning of the first game.

Kienan Sutton scattered 4 hits and struck out 5 in winning the opener, as
the Eagles built a 12-0 lead through the second inning. Sutton also swatted a pair of doubles while knocking in 3 runs; Jake Plamondon had three singles and 3 RBI, and Matt Pasch singled and doubled.

Shaffran struck out 4 in his winning performance. Sutton tripled, added a pair of singles and knocked in 4 runs; brothers David and Matt Pasch each doubled and knocked in 2 runs; and Jake Plamondon had 3 singles and 3 RBI.

The split with Mesick, which holds second place in the Northwest Conference, was impressive given a lack of St. Mary seniors who could play.

The Eagles dropped the opener, 3-2. Their runs were knocked in by a Ray Platts double and a Sutton single. “We stranded the tying run at second base,” lamented coach Plamondon.

Adam Peplinski pitched a gem in the nightcap, a 2-0 win — and he was backed up by an efficient defense. Peplinski yielded one hit and walked just one.

“He only faced 20 batters, and we only committed one error in both of those games,” said Plamondon.

St. Mary’s rally came in the fourth inning, starting with a Jake Plamondon single. He advanced to second on a Shaffran sacrifice, and came home on a two-out double by Platts. Sutton followed with a double for an insurance run.

With seniors gone, coach Plamondon started three freshmen in Aiden Kilty, Leighton Korson and Joey Pendergast.

Combined with the Rudyard win, Plamondon was pleased with his squad’s work. “It’s been some nice rematches for us,” he said.

St. Mary will travel to Traverse City Christian Saturday for a 10:30 a.m. match, and will stay in town for a rescheduled double header with Leelanau School on the Christian field starting at 3 p.m. The Thunderbolts lack a home field, so the neutral site made sense to coaches, Plamondon said. The Leelanau School-St. Mary matchup was rained out Friday.