Not of this caliber anyway.
But when the Knights made the 2 1/2-hour trip south of the confines of New York City…
By Domenico Montanaro
NEWARK, DEL. — After winning seven of its first eight games, the last thing the Holy Cross baseball team was expecting was a let down.
Not of this caliber anyway.
But when the Knights made the 2 1/2-hour trip south of the confines of New York City during spring break, that’s what happened.
The Knights (7-5, 2-1 CHSAA-Brooklyn/Queens) lost all three of their games in the Delaware Stadium Corporation High School Tournament and then got blitzed by Molloy Monday 10-2.
The hectic week started out unambitiously, as Holy Cross drove down to Delaware on April 15 to participate in a showcase skills competition in Frawley Stadium, the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, the Royals’ A farm team.
In none of the events, however, did the Knights finish in the top two.
After that, they boarded the red and blue vans — conveniently nicknamed “New Red” and “New Blue” — an headed back up to Queens for Easter Sunday.
Holy Cross was supposed to head back to Delaware that Tuesday after they played McClancy.
The Knights beat McClancy handily, 10-2, and had some hope going back to the tournament.
In fear of bad weather, the tournament was delayed two days, and Cross made the trip down on Thursday.
The Knights checked into the Howard Johnson in Newark, went to Friendly’s for lunch and then made their way over to the field for their first game.
This one was at the University of Delaware’s home field against Caravel, the eighth-ranked team in Delaware which won the state championship in 1998.
Cross lost 10-1.
The Knights were up 1-0 after the top half of the first, but starting pitcher Pat Hogarty gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning giving Caravel a lead it would never relinquish.
The score remained 2-1 until the fifth when the flood gates opened.
With the loss, the Knights were dropped to the loser’s bracket, where they faced Indian River (N.J.).
It appeared Cross might pull this one out. The Knights led 2-1 into the fifth, but five runs in the top of the fifth spelled doom for the team. They went down 9-2.
In the consolation game on Saturday morning, Cross made its way into Frawley Stadium again.
Here, they encountered another Delaware team, St. Elizabeth, an unranked but solid team.
Unfortunately for the Knights, they couldn’t stay with St. Elizabeth either, as they fell 6-1.
Cross only scored four runs on six hits in Delaware and gave up 25 runs. Then a tired, somewhat demoralized squad had to come back and face powerhouse Molloy.
Christ the King 4, St. Francis Prep 1. The Royals were powered by the pitching of starter Leon Kruset, who limited the potent St. Francis line-up to just four hits while striking out five.The win improved CK to an 8-5 overall record, 2-0 in league play.
Xaverian 11, McClancy 1. The Crusaders continued to struggle this season, falling to the Clippers Monday by 10. Chris Garcia tossed a one-hitter for the winners, fanning 12 while going the distance. Dan Martinez had two hits and drove in four. Xaverian is now 2-0 in league play, while McClancy is still without a league win.
Archbishop Molloy 10, Holy Cross 2. The Stanners topped the Knights Monday behind Mike Vigorito’s 2-for-4 performance at the plate, driving in three. Molloy is now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.
St. Francis Prep 16, St. Edmund Prep 0. Prep pitcher Brian Morgan dominated St. Edmund last week, tossing a one-hitter in a convincing win for the Terriers. St. Francis wracked up 18 hits in the victory, led by Nicky Theoharis, who was 4-for-4 with three RBIs, and Anthony Genna, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
St. Edmund Prep 3, McClancy 0. The Crusaders were blanked by the pitching of Peter Orsi, who gave up just one hit and struck out nine through six innings.
St. John’s Prep 8, Nazareth 1. Mike Trentacosta struck out 11 and allowed just one hit to lead the Red Storm over the Kingsmen and help keep the team unbeaten in league play.
Bishop Ford 12, Cathedral Prep 8. The Crusaders dropped their first league game of the season, as Ford got three hits each from Matt Signorile and Peter Esposito.
— Anthony Bosco contributed to this story
ReachContributing Writer Domenico Montanaro by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
