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Ursuline rolls past Campbell Memorial, 14-3
By Joe Catullo Jr.
STRUTHERS
Hitting in the batting cages before Tuesday’s Division III district semifinal against Campbell Memorial, Sam Donko knew he would have a good game.
“It was just one of those grooves,” he said. “In the cages, I was hitting liners everywhere. When you’re a baseball player, you just know when you feel good before every game.”
Donko collected a triple, a sacrifice fly, three RBIs and drew a walk during Ursuline’s 14-3 victory in a Division III distirict semifinal.
Teammate Dion Felger was surprised to see he had three hits, including a double and four RBIs, while pitching.
“Pitching wasn’t all there,” he said. “Batting I was more surprised with. Middle of the season wasn’t too hot, and now I’m starting to get better come playoff time.”
Felger went the distance and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out seven.
“Each time this year when he hasn’t had his real good stuff he’s battled through, which is what he did today,” Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said.
After the Red Devils (9-16) scored first, the Fighting Irish (21-2) answered in the bottom of the first inning with Felger’s two-out, two-run double. Harry Finelli also scored on the play due to a throwing error.
Felger’s two-out hit began Ursuline’s theme, which was scoring with two outs. The Irish scored 12 of their 14 runs in those situations.
“We just got done telling the kids that that’s a key come tournament time by putting offensive pressure on every inning,” Durkin said. “We did a lot of damage with two outs, and I think that’s a sign of a pretty good offensive team.”
In the bottom of the second, Donko rocked a two-out, two-run triple to begin a five-run inning. Then the Irish scored six in the third to put the game away.
Along with two-out hitting, Ursuline drew six walks from Campbell starter Jeremy Vazquez and capitalized on four errors.
“It’s hard to beat a team like that when you beat yourself,” Campbell coach Brian Nichols said. “I’m not going to say we beat ourselves today because it’s a hell of a baseball team over there, but it didn’t help the cause at all.”
The Red Devils entered Tuesday’s game winning eight of their last 11 after beginning the season 1-12.
“It started off slow, but as these guys got older and experienced, we definitely made the best out of what we started with,” Nichols said. “You’re not going to take anything away from these group of kids making the district semifinal game when we started the season 1-12.”
Ursuline will face South Range today for a district title. The Raiders beat Girard, 3-0, on Tuesday in another district semifinal. The Irish defeated South Range, 18-3, earlier this season. Donko is expected to be the starting pitcher.
“The regular-season game against them means nothing at this time,” Durkin said. “They’re going to be a tough task. I expect it to be a really close, good ballgame. [Donko] is the guy we want on the mound in a big game situation.”