Irish roll again

May 23, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Ursuline baseball team captures its fifth straight district championship

STRUTHERS

With Friday’s 13-3 victory over South Range, the Ursuline High School baseball team secured its fifth consecutive district championship and its 11th in 18 seasons during head coach Sean Durkin’s regime.

Ursuline outfielder Zach Patton, a senior, will be making his fourth consecutive trip to regional play.

“It’s something that doesn’t happen very often so to be a part of four district championship teams is something really special,” Patton said. “Our goal every year is to get this far and then go further,“ Patton said. “Coach Durkin and the entire coaching staff have prepared us for this moment.”

Vinnie Lucente scattered five hits and survived a shaky first inning that sent eight South Range batters to the plate.

“I was a little nervous and just trying to find my groove in the first inning,” Lucente said. “As the game progressed, I relied on my slider and that became my go-to pitch; even with a 3-2 count.

“It’s a great feeling to win another district title and get back to the regionals, but the mindset now is not to have another first inning like that,” Lucente said. “I just need to throw strikes and let the defense do their job behind me.”

Alex Schlosser had two hits and three RBIs, and reached base safely four times in the six-inning game.

“South Range is an excellent team and we gave them life early when they scored those three runs,” Durkin said. “That’s nerve-wracking and it put pressure on us.”

Vito Penza had two hits and two RBIs to pace the Irish (16-5).

The Raiders (18-11) got on the board first, scoring three times in their first at-bat.

Jack Bajerski drew a walk and scored the first run on a two-out single by Ryan Miller. After Ethan Dominguez drew a free pass, Miller and Dominguez crossed the plate on a Dylan Keller hit.

In Thursday’s game, the Irish sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning of Thursday’s win over Girard, scoring five runs in the process.

Friday, they sent 13 batters to the plate, drew eight walks, added a pair of singles and then watched the first seven batters score for a 7-3 lead.

“Their pitchers were struggling and we had to be patient,” Durkin said. “A couple of timely hits then took some air out of their balloon.”

The big poke was a two-run single by Penza with Vito Petrillo, Logan Pullin, Bobby Dulay, Alex Schlosser and Joel Hake each adding to their RBI count.

Schlosser said scoring seven “definitely boosted our spirits.”

Pullin’s lead-off triple in the second inning set the stage for Dulay’s RBI single.

Penza’s second hit came in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 10-3.

Schlosser’s two-run single in the sixth inning ended the game.

South Range coach Jim Hanek said their goal was to try to get an early lead and go from there.

“We wanted to jump on them at the outset and I was pleased that we were able to do that against a quality pitcher like Vinnie Lucente,” Hanek said. “I was also pleased with our offensive effort as we had enough hits to win.

“Credit our kids because they never quit, re-focused after that first inning and just kept battling.”

The Irish will play Akron Manchester on Thursday at 2 p.m. at Massillon High School’s Ducky Schroeder Field.