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Cardinal Mooney rallies past Ursuline to win Bob Cene Catholic Baseball Tournament
Cardinal Mooney rallies past Ursuline to win Bob Cene Baseball Tournament
By BRIAN DZENIS
STRUTHERS
The Cardinal Mooney HIgh School baseball team stretched its winning streak to nine games Sunday night by winning the Bob Cene Catholic Baseball Tournament.
The Cardinals bested their Holy War rival Ursuline, 7-6, after two costly gaffes in the seventh inning allowed Mooney to complete the rally. Cardinal Mooney (10-5) has been playing quality baseball since starting 1-5.
“We’re on a roll and coming into the tournament season,” Mooney coach Al Franceschelli said. “This is really good.”
Mooney entered the seventh down by one run. Ursuline (11-7) trotted out Vinny Lucente to get the save in relief of starter Vito Petrillo.
Lucente, who pitched the previous day and is normally not a reliever, had a rough outing. After coaxing a ground out of the first batter he faced, Lucente hit Dean Lauer with a pitch, gave up a single to Brennan Olesh and walked Geno Guerrieri to load the bases.
Lucente recovered to strike out Mike Williams and after getting a grounder to second off Devin Curd, that should have been the end of the game.
But it wasn’t.
Irish second baseman Alex Schlosser bobbled the grounder and Lauer and Olesh scored.
Ursuline’s best chance to force extra innings came when Drew Potesta, with one out in the seventh inning, stretched a double into a triple.
As Potesta dove for third, he bowled over Mooney third baseman Antonio Page. Ursuline coaches signaled for Potesta to try for home, but he was thrown out.
“After we got him out, I knew we had the game locked up and we were bringing it home,” Curd said.
One ground out later, the Cardinals’ win was secured. Ursuline coach Matt Weymer took responsibility for Potesta’s ill-fated run home.
“Drew did what the coach told him to do, Coach told him to go and he went and that’s on us as a staff,” Weymer said. “Drew busted his butt to get a triple and he got up and gave everything he had to get to home plate.”
Ursuline made six errors. The game’s first batter, Curd, reached first on an error at short and later scored on another error at third base.
Mooney looked poised to take over the contest when the Cardinals loaded the bases in the top of the third with two outs. Ursuline left-fielder Jimmy Kerrigan allowed the Irish to emerge from the inning unscathed with a rolling grab.
Kerrigan tied the game in the following inning with a hit down the third base line to score Bobby Cavalier. He could have easily stretched that hit into a double, but fell down.
Ursuline pulled ahead in the bottom of the fourth after Gianni Quattro’s RBI-single scored Brice Bokesch. That lead was short-lived after Jack Lynch’s RBI-double and Lauer’s RBI single.
That scoring stretch triggered a four-run outburst by the Irish. Potesta ripped a two-run double to left field and Quattro followed up with a two-run triple.
Mooney was able to cut the deficit to a run in the top of the sixth after Bryce Richey’s sacrifice fly and Lynch’s RBI-double.
Curd was the winning pitcher in relief by giving up two runs on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts through two-and-a-third innings of work.