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Bloody good pitching: Lucente, Irish prevail
By CURTIS PULLIAM
Struthers
A little blood wasn’t going to stop Vinnie Lucente.
The right-hander suffered a bloody nose but stayed in to shut down the Girard Indians, 4-1, at Bob Cene Park on Friday.
The blood started flowing after the first batter of the game, Girard’s Kyle Harris, tripled to right field.
“I’m good,” Lucente said. “It’s just dry out.”
Lucente did get some blood on his pants causing the game to be delayed for about 15 minutes.
“It wasn’t exactly what we expected after one batter today,” said Irish head coach Sean Durkin. “Luckily I had an extra pair of pants in my car so we sent someone out to get them. Otherwise we probably would have had to take him out.”
The Irish (3-0) received four innings from Lucente and three from John Hintz. They held the Indians to four hits.
“We want guys to pound the strike zone and we did that today,” Durkin said. “We didn’t walk many guys and we were ahead in the counts. If they continue on that track then we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
After the delay was over, Kyle Cario drove home Harris with a groundout to put the Indians (3-1) up 1-0.
The lead was short-lived due to a two-run double by Drew Potesta, scoring Vito Petrillo and Gianni Quattro.
Potesta finished 2-for-2 with a walk.
“He swung it very well early,” Durkin said. “This is his third year of actually contributing at the varsity level so we expect big things from him.”
The Indians got the leadoff man on in the second but were unable to lay down a bunt. Girard missed several bunt attempts in the game.
“That was a key part of game,” Indians head coach Aaron Alejars said. “Putting a bunt down is a crucial part in our offensive attack.”
Lucente he settled down after the wild first and had no problem with the Indians hitters.
This was his first game since last summer. He had been sidelined with an arm injury.
“It felt good,” Lucente said. “I love playing with these guys.”
Lucente says there was nothing fancy about his approach.
“I was just throwing strikes and having my teammates field the balls,” Lucente said. “Just going with the straight-away approach — nothing off-speed.”
Lucente finished with eight strikeouts and no walks.
“He’s healthy now and he’s a big part of who we are,” Durkin said. “Hopefully he’s ready to go now.”
The Irish added a run in the third when Joel Hake grounded into a fielder’s choice bringing home Quattro.
In the sixth Alex Schlosser scored on an error to make it 4-1.
Christian Bello started for the Indians and struck out four in two innings.
The Irish had other scoring opportunities, leaving nine runners stranded.
That didn’t sit well with Durkin.
“We just needed to put the ball in play in some situations and we didn’t,” he said. “Situational hitting as we get closer to the tournament — that we’ll need to get better at. We’re early in the year and realize we are going to go through some growing pains.”