Jordan Rose smacked a two-out, two-run double off the fence in left center field to give St. Anthony’s a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning, sending their dugout into a frenzy. It was their first lead of the day, and it proved to be the difference this afternoon.
What a thrilling game it was between them and St. John the Baptist. Head Coach John Phelan was elated with the resilient effort of his Friars today, who came in facing a Cougars team who had fired four consecutive shutouts.
“He (Jordan) came through in a big spot–a BIG spot–and delivered,” said Phelan. “You can’t put a price on that. They came prepared, they fought–we got behind 2-0 and their guy did a great job but we just battled. It was a constant battle. That’s what this whole league is about–great baseball!”
The Cougars got out to an early 2-0 lead on an RBI double by ECU-commit Logan O’Hoppe and an RBI single by Dan Favicchio off starter Jared Restmeyer. He settled in after that, allowing no runs until the sixth inning while giving his offense a chance to get to work against Keene State-commit Greg Poggiolli.
The Friars tied it up in the third inning when Nick Rizzo got things started with a HBP. He advanced to second on a walk to Michigan-commit Cameron Tomaiko (his first of three free bases at the plate) and they both advanced on an errant back-pick to first. Nick Wanderlingh came through with a clutch RBI single to center field and St. Thomas Aquinas-commit Kyle LaGrutta drove in Tomaiko with a single to right center.
The score would stay tied 2-2 until the bottom of the sixth when Favicchio led off with a double and was sacrificed to third base. The Cougars took the 3-2 lead on an RBI single by James Kibitel to right center but reliever Logan Vallas struck out Matt Archer to retire the side.
In the top of the seventh, the Friars loaded the bases with one out for LaGrutta who drove one out to right field to tie the game at 3-3 once again.
Kyle LaGrutta hits a sac fly to score Tomaiko and tie the game at 3 pic.twitter.com/Jftps2fCQb
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2017
Rose grounded out to end the frame.
Both teams went quietly in the eighth, but in the ninth the Friars mounted a rally. After Tomaiko fanned to start the inning, Wanderlingh laced his third hit of the afternoon and advanced to second when the ball skipped past the left fielder. Noah Fortuna struck out for the second out, but LaGrutta was intentionally walked to set the stage for Rose who got redemption on his previous at bat with a well-struck double that narrowly missed being a three-run home run.
They would’ve added another run on a single to center by the following batter, Andrew Balcarel, but Rose injured himself turning the corner around third base and was tagged out halfway to home.
Things got dicey in the bottom of the ninth. After consecutive singles, Vallas was able to bear down with back-to-back strikeouts of Will Shaw and Favicchio before inducing a ground out to Rizzo to end the game for the hard-earned win.
Vallas recorded the win in relief with four shutout innings while compiling five strikeouts. With the victory, they improve to 4-0 on the season.
Ave Marie-commit Leo Clarke led the Cougars offensive attack–he went 3-for-5 with a run scored.
