Friday, April 25, 2014
Photo
Shane Vitullo of Fitch collides with Cardinal Mooney first baseman Andrew Armstrong on the first play — and for the first out — of their baseball game Thursday at Cene Park in Struthers. The Cardinals dominated the Falcons, 12-2, in six innings.
Cunningham cuts down Falcons
as Cards win big in six innings
By Ryan Buck
Struthers
For one side, it was a night to savor. For the other, it was one to forget.
Nearly everything went right for undefeated Cardinal Mooney in a 12-2 run-shortened, six-inning victory over Austintown Fitch Thursday night at Cene Park.
The Falcons (5-7) committed nine errors and could not solve Cardinals starter Joe Cunningham, who threw a complete game, allowing just four hits while walking only one.
“Everything was working tonight,” said Cunningham, a senior who is headed to John Carroll in the fall to play basketball. “I felt great.
“My slider and curveball were working well today. That was the first game that I pulled out the slider and it got a lot of guys swinging, so I need to keep it up.”
After a shaky first inning that saw Fitch speedster Nick Heitzer single, steal second and reach third on a wild pitch, Cunningham settled in and even helped his own cause from the No. 9 spot in the Mooney lineup.
After Jon Saadey and Drew Beck reached base and an infield error on Andrew Armstrong’s at-bat allowed the duo to score, Cunningham sent a two-out single to center off Fitch starter Pat Gerberry that brought Armstrong home for a 3-0 lead.
“The run support is a given,” Cunningham said. “We’ve been hitting the ball so well over these past eight games, but hopefully we keep it up. We’re a strong hitting team.”
Cunningham set down the side in the third and evaded trouble when Fitch clean-up hitter Zack Miller tripled to the center-field wall.
More help came in the fifth in the form of Saadey, who reached on Fitch’s fourth error of the game and stole second, and Drew Beck, who singled him home with two outs. Beck then jogged home after another error.
Fitch coach Wally Ford had little trouble assessing his team’s performance.
“It was just a pitiful performance,” Ford said. “Nothing good to say. We kicked the ball all over the place and we started feeling sorry for ourselves and it just goes bad really quickly.”
Trailing 5-0, Fitch finally got to Cunningham in the sixth. Scott Pierce drove home Kyle Benyo and Heitzer with a one-out double down the left-field line.
Fitch’s glimmer of hope, however, was simply that.
“I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” Cunningham said. “I’m a ground-ball guy and my defense made a ton of plays behind me tonight. It was great.”
Cunningham forced a groundout to second and then a harmless fly-out to left to end the threat on his 90th and final pitch of the night.
“This was his first actual start and we were looking to get him to 75, 80 pitches and he threw 90,” said Mooney coach Al Franceschelli. “We were going to shut him down this inning anyway, but he pitched a good game.”
In the bottom of the sixth, the Falcons could not force an out or get out of their own way. The Cardinals scored seven runs on three hits, three errors, two walks and a hit-batsman. Beck came across for the final run to enforce the 10-run rule and end the game.
Until now, the only force able to stop Mooney has been a little rain. And even that may be short-lived.
For after greeting a guest and posing for a team photo, Cunningham joined the rest of the Cardinals (9-0) in rolling the Cene Park rain-proof tarp atop the infield.