By Five Boro Sports
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — To Holy Cross pitcher Derek Lamacchia, there’s nothing better than winning a baseball game. Well, unless that win comes against rival St. Francis Prep. And two wins against the Terriers?
“That’s a great feeling,” he said.
That’s just what the Knights did Wednesday night, sweeping archrival St. Francis Prep in a doubleheader. Holy Cross won the opener, 5−2, and rallied from a three−run deficit to win the nightcap, 6−4.
It was the Battle of the Boulevard, but really in name only since the doubleheader was played 15 miles away from Francis Lewis Boulevard on the sprawling 600−acre campus of SUNY Old Westbury.
But the location of the game mattered little to Lamacchia. It could have been played on Jupiter as long as Holy Cross was victorious.
“We came here fired up and ready to play and we played pretty well,” he said.
After an impressive performance from Andrew Mulvey in a complete−game victory in the opener, Lamacchia took the mound for Game 2. He allowed four runs, one earned, on nine hits, striking out 10 with two walks. At the plate, he was 2−for−3 with a run scored and was hit by a pitch.
“I was feeling good, but I felt like I kept my fastball up in the zone and they were getting some hits on me,” Lamacchia said. “But when I really needed it there, I bore down and was ready for whatever they had.”
That came in the fifth inning with the game tied at 4. Nick Copelli led off the top of the inning with a triple to right and Alex Middlemiss reached on an error, giving St. Francis Prep (4−4 CHSAA Brooklynâ„Queens ‘A’) runners at the corners with no outs.
LaMacchia got Prep starting pitcher Chris Fesler looking at a called strike three before walking catcher Chris Cannon to load the bases with one out.
“I can’t describe the feelings I had inside of me,” Lamacchia said. “I knew I had the defense behind me, but I felt like I had to do it on my own. I put my head down and did what I had to do.”
What he did was strike out Jason Perrone and Ryan Paccione to get out of the jam. As his teammate exploded onto the field to greet him on his way back to the dugout, Lamacchia let out a primal scream that took Holy Cross coach Doug Manfredonia by surprise.
“That inning there when he struck out a couple of batters with the bases loaded, that was as good of a moment we’ve had here,” Manfredonia said. “It’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen Derek show in three years. It was good to see.”
Riding that emotion, Holy Cross (8−4 CHSAA Brooklynâ„Queens ‘A’) scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. After reaching on a leadoff walk, A.J. Morena rounded the bases on three wild pitches to score what proved to be the winning run.
Mike McManus then drove in Mike Galati for an insurance run as the bottom part of the Holy Cross lineup accounted for four runs and four hits. McManus also relieved Lamacchia and pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save.
“I think the bottom of the order were getting better at−bats today,” Manfredonia said. “A couple of bloops led to a couple of runs and anything can happen with drawn infields when you put the bat on the ball.”
After costly defensive miscues in the opening game, the wild pitch was St. Francis Prep’s nemesis in the nightcap as Holy Cross scored three of its six runs from wild pitches.
The Terriers also failed to get timely hits and stranded eight runners in their fourth consecutive loss.
“We played better in the second game. In the first we gave the Cross the game,” St. Francis Prep coach Bro. Robert Kent said. “The pitching has been great. We’re just not hitting the ball. That’s the name of the game.”
