By Anthony Bosco
After falling to defending city champs Xaverian, 2-1, on opening day, the Monsignor McClancy Crusaders bounced back with two big league wins this week, pushing the team's record to 2-1 on the season.
The Crusaders defeated perennial power St. Francis Prep Friday, 5-2, thanks to the Herculean efforts of pitcher Kenny Hoch.
Hoch, who went the distance in the win, gave up nine hits, but kept the Terriers off the scoreboard early, while McClancy gave its pitcher a lead to work with.
“He pitched excellent,” McClancy coach Bob Lowenberg said of his starter, who was the hard-luck loser against Xaverian. “Prep got a lot of men on, but Kenny kept working out of trouble. The big thing he did was get the lead-off man out so they never got a chance to have a big inning.”
Facing his counterpart, Prep pitcher Brian Forman, Hoch led off the game with a walk. Billy White followed with a base-on-balls of his own and Khari Council was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by Michael Farley brought home Hoch with the first run, signaling the end of Forman's brief stint on the hill.
Forman's replacement did not fare much better in the inning, as Danny Tonkin doubled home White and a two-out single by Marty Noer scored Council and Tonkin to give McClancy a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Prep seemed to threaten almost every inning, as Hoch battled to keep the Terriers off the board.
The lone time Prep managed to get a lead-off runner on base courtesy of an error –
