St. John’s Prep wins instant classic

Twenty years after their last city championship, St. John’s Prep won another CHSAA Class B crown, outlasting defending champion Cathedral Prep in a 14-inning marathon, 6-5, that earned the designation of an instant classic.
The game was supposed to start at 6 p.m., but was pushed back to a 7:11 first pitch because the CHSAA intersectional Class A playoff game between Xaverian and Moore Catholic that preceded it went into extra innings. The two teams didn’t leave St. John’s University’s Jack Kaiser Stadium until 11:35, when junior Noel Vargas singled home Mike Colon in the bottom of the 14th, setting off a raucous Red Storm celebration.
“After eight long years of going at it, it was a big monkey off my back,” St. John’s Coach Jason Bigeni said. “When we finally came through, it was big relief. It was very exciting.”
Added starter John O’Brien: “I’ve never been in a game like that before.”
Vargas, who left the game in the third inning after a bad-hop grounder cut him below the eye and did not return until the eighth, also scored the game-tying run in the 12th on an Edwin Suarez sacrifice fly after Cathedral went ahead. It looked like O’Brien would be the hero much of the way. St. John’s scored four times in the first inning off Crusaders starter Sean DeBiase, and held a 4-3 with two outs in the seventh inning. At that point, with DeBiase at the plate, sprinklers went off, causing a five-minute delay. DeBiase responded by lashing a high fastball down the line and sprinting around the bases for the dramatic game-tying inside-the-park homerun.
“I didn’t have any doubt in them; I really didn’t,” Bigeni said. “The way the ball had been going for us, we had all the bounces all year, the benefit of some calls. I honestly was not thinking about losing; that never crossed my mind. Some way, somehow, we were going to win.”
O’Brien figured he would be lifted at some point after the seventh, but kept on putting up zeroes. He struck out 15 Crusaders and walked five in 11 1/3 innings.
“My arm felt the same it did in the middle of the game and my adrenaline was pumping and I wanted to stay in there,” he said.
Each team had their chances in extra innings, most notably Cathedral, who loaded the bases with no outs in the 10th only to come away empty-handed, and again in the 14th. In the bottom half of the frame, Vargas ended it, flaring a Mike Knott delivery into shallow right field that plated Colon, who had doubled with one out.
“I didn’t really know what happened until I looked back to home and everybody was celebrating,” he said. “I threw my hands into the air and went into the crowd. It was one of the best feelings ever. One of the best games I ever played.”