Final (9 innings): St. Francis Prep 4, Kellenberg 3
WP: Andrew SchoellesMatt Martell: go-ahead RBI single in 9th inning pic.twitter.com/8dGkd2WWGB
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 6, 2023
Two outstanding pitchers took the mound this morning in East Meadow in what was one of the only games played on Long Island. It was a Catholic League crossover matchup between St. Francis Prep and Kellenberg in which the matchup was Queens-commit Peter Nenadich and uncommitted southpaw Jack Durso. The teams went toe-to-toe for 9 innings with St. Francis Prep coming out on top by the score of 4-3.
In the top of the first inning, Durso worked around two base runners to fire a zero. In the home half, Monmouth-commit Kenny Noe drew a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a balk but was stranded there when Nenadich struck out Wake Forest-commit Andrew Koshy and induced a ground out to the first baseman off the bat of catcher Jimmy Ernst.
There was a leadoff batter on again in the top of the second when Matt Martell (more on him later) was hit by a curveball to get on base. Durso showed some impressive stuff by striking out the next two batters, one on a curveball and another on a fastball, and inducing a fly out to right off the bat of Robert Kenny.
Nenadich went 1-2-3 in the second inning with two ground outs and a fly out to get his offense back in the dugout.
They threatened to score once again after the first two batters were retired. Justin Chong drew a walk, as did the cleanup batter, George Demacopoulos to put a runner in scoring position. With two outs, Durso was able to make a big pitch and get Aidan Cellilli to strike out to end the jam.
After Durso led off with a walk to start the third inning, Tommy Pasqua bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to erase the base runner. High Point-commit Paul Napolitano hit a liner to left that was caught to end the inning.
Jack Durso’s day was done on the mound and he was lifted in favor of Brian Cadieux. The junior struck out the side in the fourth inning on three swinging strikeouts.
After another scoreless frame in the fourth, the action got going. After Michael Brocco struck out to start the fifth, Will Cowan drew a walk. Cadieux hit a grounder to second that should’ve been an inning ending DP (and looked like it was) but the runner was called safe at first to extend the inning. After Durso and Pasqua drew two-out walks, Paul Napolitano hit a soft blooper to right that was misplayed by the second baseman. Regardless of whether it was scored a hit or an error, two runs scored and it was a 2-0 game in favor of Kellenberg. With a chance to create some breathing room, Kenny Noe was retired on a ground out to SS to end the inning and keep the game close.
Cadieux went back out for the sixth and he worked around an error by the third baseman with a pair of strikeouts of Martell and Allen Watson Jr to get the Firebirds three outs away from a win.
Nenadich went back out for the sixth and fired a 1-2-3 inning with another strikeout.
That brought us to the seventh inning where the Firebirds brought in Kenny Noe from third base to close it. Facing the 8-9-1 in the order, he was unable to find his command. He walked the first two hitters before Tyler Koenig dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt that nearly scooted past Koshy at first but was a successful bunt nevertheless. With two runners in scoring position, he walked Joe Vetrano to load the bases for Justin Chong who promptly blooped an RBI single to right to make it 2-1. After the next batter struck out for the second out of the inning, another walk brought in a run and made it 2-2. Greg Malberba came on in relief and on the first batter, St. Francis Prep executed a perfect steal of home on the throw down to second and it gave them a 3-2 lead. Malerba retired the next batter to end the inning.
SFP went to the bullpen, bringing on St. Thomas Aquinas-commit Andrew Schoelles. Will Cowan greeted him with a double to right field, and Cadieux single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Durso struck out for the first out, and Tommy Pasqua hit a grounder that allowed Cowan to score the tying run as he beat out the double play attempt. He was caught stealing to end the inning, though, so we went to extra.
Mid 9: Matt Martell singled home Aidan Cellilli and St. Francis Prep takes a 4-3 lead as we head to the bottom of the 9th pic.twitter.com/YokY2U50Jm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 6, 2023
Neither team was able to score a run in the eighth inning which brought us to the ninth. After the first two batters were retired, Cellilli drew a walk and stole second to get himself into scoring position. Matt Martell came through with the biggest hit of the day, a single to right field to score Cellilli and make it a 4-3 game. Watson was retired to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Schoelles set the side down in order 1-2-3 with the last batter grounding to shortstop to end it.
The Terriers improve to 3-0 with the victory.
