Joel Pozzo hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. The hit was the pinnacle of a rising energy inside Busch Stadium, fueled by a crowd of shirtless fans in right field.
The group grew as the game went on, helping to create an atmosphere that Cardinals head coach Oliver Marmore would never forget after the game.
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“Whoever starts in right field, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re in every game,” Marmore said before taking questions from reporters. “Because it was awesome. Not just them, but everyone who showed up today. It was a fun environment.”
Mamore emphasized that he believed that energy helped his team win in overtime.
“It creates an environment that not only fills up the place but makes it difficult for other teams to come in and play,” Marmore said. “That would be really cool. I would sign up for it any day.”
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The shirtless incident that sparked off the outfield at Busch Stadium was a member of the Stephen F. Austin club baseball team, which was playing in the nearby National Club Baseball Association’s DII World Series this week.
They lost to Grand Valley in the afternoon and then headed to St. Louis to play the Cardinals, where they made noise and saw their chests.
“We came out here after the game and had a great time,” SFA player Bryce Bradford said, via Brandon Kiley of 101 ESPN. “It got really close and we were like, ‘What the hell, let’s go to an empty place and take our shirts off.'” Everyone was a little scared at first. I was like, ‘What the hell, I’ll do it’ and took my shirt off. “
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Bradford added that there was no plan and they were happy to see what they started eventually spread around the stadium.
The win helped the Cardinals improve their season record to 26-18, 2.5 games behind the Central Division-leading Chicago Cubs and maintain a wild-card spot in the National League.
