Final: Chaminade 11, St. Anthony’s 5
WP: John Downing pic.twitter.com/xoWMAPcczU— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 28, 2021
It turns out the demise of Chaminade was greatly exaggerated.
The reigning champs went out on opening day at St. Anthony’s and handed it to the Friars with an 11-5 victory. Both teams are fielding inexperienced rosters in terms of their varsity experience, but Chaminade is certainly not lacking in their star power and that was evident today.
Head Coach Mike Pientkos who has led the Flyers to over 600 wins spoke to me last week about the uncertainty of his roster and their lack of experience at this level. He did note, however, that they have a lot of players that can really play the game and will be impact players for them.
From my vantage point, they will be just fine this year thanks to a 2022 graduating class with a bevy of Division-I prospects. That was on display early on as leadoff batter sophomore Michael Sweeney (2-for-2, 3 BBs, 3 R) led off with a walk and moved to second on a single to right center by Columbia-commit Nolan Nawrocki (2-for-4, 1 R). They advanced on a walk to Andrew Park (0-for-o, 3 BB) and scored on an RBI ground out off the bat of Brady Steinert (0-for-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB). St. Anthony’s starting pitcher Joe Merendino was able to escape the jam with a pop out to second. It was a laborious first inning for Merendino who worked methodically and got out of the inning with just the one run allowed.
Chaminade sent junior LHP John Downing to the mound. The southpaw is uncommitted, but had the looks of a Division-I, or high-end Division-II starter today as he sat 84-87 MPH in the first inning. He threw a 1-2-3 inning although two of those fly outs were well struck.
Merendino went back out for the second and fired a 1-2-3 inning which allowed his offense to get to work. A leadoff walk to catcher Eddie Lippert and a ground out by Anthony Capogna move Lippert to scoring position. That sent up second baseman Alex Celeiro who got into one to left field and sent it over the fence for a two-run shot. It gave the Friars the 2-1 lead, but Downing settled down and retired the next two batters.
In the top of the third, working with the lead, Merendino struggled with his command, walking Michael Sweeney and hitting Nick Ungania (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 R) in the leg and walking Andrew Park again but escaping on a flyout to right.
After the Friars stranded two runners in scoring position in the third, the tides turned.
Tyler Burke led off with a single to center, Brian Heckelman reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to third on a double by Hofstra-commit Thomas Lebrecht. St. Anthony’s temporarily caught a break as the ball got stuck under the fence, which kept Heckelman at third. That didn’t last long as Sweeney tied the game with a single to left field. Ungania followed that up with a well-struck two-run double down the right field line to give the Flyers a 4-2 lead. Rob Vitale came on in relief and struck out Nawrocki to end the frame.
2-R double by Nick Ungania gives Chaminade a 4-2 in the fourth as St. Anthony’s goes to the bullpen pic.twitter.com/f9O8dAUKI8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 27, 2021
Downing allowed a leadoff walk but picked off Capogna, which kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. Downing wound up retiring the next two batters including a strikeout on a nasty curveball down in the zone.
Mike Suozzi rips a 2-R single and Chaminade extends lead to 6-2 in the fifth pic.twitter.com/BcjhH2WjeR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 27, 2021
In the fifth inning, the wheels came off for the Friars. Back-to-back walks to start the inning came back to haunt them as pinch hitter Michael Suozzi ripped a two-run single to right to extend the lead to 6-2. That would become 7-2 in the next inning on a leadoff inside-the-park home run for Sweeney to dead center. An RBI single by pinch hitter Anthony Lods made it 8-2 and a sac fly by Steinert made it 9-2. They broke it open on a two-run triple by Vincent Roman to make it 11-2.
The Friars would scratch across a run in the sixth and two in the seventh to get closer, but the final was 11-5. Downing earned his first varsity win – going 5.0 IP, allowing 2 ER and striking out four.
The Flyers have an embarrassment of riches in their program in terms of talent and the well rarely runs dry. They lose their ace pitcher for the season last month, they plug in a junior lefty throwing 87. That’s just the way it is in Flyer-land. But the Friars also can hit and that alone will win them plenty of game. They will make some noise this year, but on Opening Day it was all Flyers.
