They do not play baseball games on paper, but Doug Manfredonia couldn’t help but reveal a little astonishment after his fifth-ranked Knights were stunned by a No. 18 team in the CHSAA playoffs.
“I’m very surprised that we’re saying goodbye right now,” the head coach said.
Manhattan’s Regis took the decisive third game of its Round of 12 matchup with Holy Cross, coasting to a 10-0 victory and knocking six runs out of Cross starter Justin Tableman in the first three innings. A two-run double and an RBI groundout by Chris Bates highlighted the offense; he went on to drive in another run when he grounded out in the top of the fifth.
Fordham University, the site of the game, proved considerably more welcoming to Regis starter Kevin Ames, who looked very different from the same pitcher’s mound. He gave up five hits in seven innings of work, and not until the bottom of the fifth inning did Holy Cross finally notch an outfield hit. Whereas the Knights had no problems timing the hard-throwing Bates in Game Two, Ames’ changing speeds offered nothing but trouble on June 1.
“He had us all off-balance,” said Holy Cross right fielder Derek Lamacchia. “He slowed it up on us today.”
Manfredonia hailed the Regis’ players’ looseness, which produced great diving catches by second baseman Giancarlo Roma and right fielder Brendan Graham.
“They were playing with the house’s money. They were free-wheeling it,” he said. “[Ames] looked like he was playing catch in Central Park with a T-shirt on … and I mean that in a complimentary way.”
Holy Cross never got into an offensive groove on Monday, and somewhere along the way thoughts surely turned to a much more winnable game – Saturday’s Game One – that could have tilted the series the Knights’ way. Holy Cross was up 2-0 in the final inning, but back-to-back hits led Manfredonia to pull starter Andrew Mulvey in favor of Lamacchia. With the help of a hit, a groundout, and an error, Regis pushed across three runs, winning 3-2.
A day later, Holy Cross responded with a 14-2 thrashing. However, the Knights couldn’t stay sharp at the plate during the decider. Game One, then, marked the tipping point of a series containing two bona fide blowouts.
For Regis, the good news continues one week after shocking No. 9 St. Francis, Queens’ other best hope in the Round of 16. For Holy Cross, the best team the borough and the second-best team in the Brooklyn-Queens division, an accomplished season is over.
