Danvers, Mass. – Monday's Catholic Conference showdown
between Malden Catholic and St. John's Prep would prove to be a daunting task
for both clubs.
With each team coming off
opening day shutout defeats, neither was looking to extend its losing
streak to two games. After getting down early, the Eagles managed to put up
enough offense late to rally past the Lancers, 5-3, on Pete Frates Diamond at Brother
Linus, C.F.X. Athletic Commons.
After being stymied over
the first three frames, and trailing 1-0, St. John's Prep (1-1) finally got to
Malden Catholic starter Nick Iannuzzi in the fourth which changed the
complexion of this contest.
The Eagles loaded the bases against the senior
right-hander before junior Alex Lane roped an inside fastball to left for a
ground-rule double which scored a pair of runs to give the Eagles the lead
for good. That was immediately followed by a Zeke O'Connell sacrifice fly that put St.
John's Prep in front 3-1.
"(Iannuzzi) was
good as he got us during the first time through the line up," said Lane.
"But the second time through, I came up with the bases loaded and no out
and was able to turn on an inside fastball. It felt really good."
Eagles starting pitcher
Sean Letarte, after surrendering a run in the opening frame, settled in nicely.
The UMass-Lowell commit held the Lancers (0-2) in check with a mix of fastballs
and curves before exiting after four innings. Letarte allowed just two hits while
fanning three.
"We had some good
at-bats and some timely hits today," Eagles coach Dan Letarte said.
"I also thought we got some decent pitching and our kids came to play. I
thought Sean did a pretty good job. He was able to keep the ball down against
them. When he gets ahead, the curve ball really seems to work well for him. I
told our kids after the game that we need to scratch and claw each and every
day and try to find ways to win. That is the type of team we have. I'm just
happy the kids were able to get this win today."
Malden Catholic, who lost
to Xaverian 14-0 in its opener, plated a run in its initial inning thanks
to a couple of base hits from Joe Ward and Chris Peguero followed by a Ian
Libby RBI ground out.
With Iannuzzi holding down the fort over the first
three frames, you had to wonder if the Eagles bats would ever awake. Last week,
St. John's Prep began its season with a 1-0 defeat against Catholic Memorial.
Finally, in the the
fourth, the Eagles offense came to life. Andrew Dembowski opened by being hit
by a pitch. Jacob Bolger reached on an infield single and Tyler MacGregor's
routine fly to left was dropped by Kyle Holmes to load the bases.
Lane, a
junior committed to Bryant University, then ripped an 0-1 pitch deep
to left that bounced over the fence.
With runners now on second and third,
O'Connell came through with a deep fly out to left, scoring MacGregor with
the Eagles' third run.
Relief pitcher Garrett
Siegel was called upon to begin the fifth for St. John's Prep. The righty
proved moderately effective going 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and two
runs.
Clinging to their two run
advantage, the Eagles were able snare some breathing room in the bottom of
the sixth. With one out, MacGregor doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch.
After a walk to Lane, O'Connell singled to left scoring MacGregor. Joe Muzio
followed with another single to load the bases and put an end to Iannuzzi's
day. Iannuzzi surrendered six hits and struck out two.
Peguero was summoned
from his shortstop position to try and get Malden Catholic out of the jam.
However, the sophomore unleashed a wild pitch which scored pinch-runner
Harrison Fiscus to make it 5-1. Peguero managed to escape further damage
by striking out the next two batters.
"I thought Nick
probably deserved a little better today," said Lancers' coach Pat Driscoll.
"But Prep made more plays than us. Nick was on top of most of the hitters
and he really battled. I think he showed today why he is one of the better
pitchers out there."
To the Lancers' credit,
they did not go down quietly.
In the top half of the seventh, pinch-hitter Dan
Marshall led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out.
After
being balked to third, the junior sprinted home on Vincent Coppola's grounder
that resulted in a throwing error by MacGregor at third base which moved
Coppola to second.
Siegel K'd Ward for the second out, but the senior could not finishing things off as he issued a run scoring single to Adam Braid,
cutting St. John's Prep's advantage to two runs.
"I was proud of our
guys for battling right to the end," Driscoll said. "They made Prep
work for it. The biggest thing in this conference is that you need to do the
little things every single inning in order to be effective."
With the tying run coming
to the plate, Dan Letarte had no choice but to turn to his closer Matt Relihan to
stop the bleeding.
The senior did just that, striking out Peguero to
seal the victory.
"This was a good
team win," said Lane. "Sean pitched lights out, Garrett pitched
lights out and Matt came in at the end to shut it down. We have really good
balance within our line up and a lot of depth in our pitching. Everyone here
just trusts one another."
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