By Stephen Zitolo
St. Francis Prep took advantage of Xaverian errors the first time the teams met and stole a victory from the defending CHSAA city champions.
This time it was the Terriers who were the victim of fielding miscues against a determined Clippers club.
Xaverian seemed like it had something to prove to St. Francis after the Terriers were able to beat them on their home field on April 13. St. Francis’s quiet bats and the offensive prowess of Xaverian led to a 13-3 defeat in Brooklyn/Queens baseball last Friday at Cunningham Park.
The second inning doomed St. Francis. The Clippers bats came to life and the Terriers defense had errors that prolonged an already-long inning. Xaverian sent 11 hitters to plate in the inning and scored six runs on four hits, two hit by pitches, and two St. Francis errors. Xaverian would tack on another seven runs over the final five innings to put the game out of reach.
“I think this time they were pretty mad that they lost to us the last time,” SFP centerfielder Connor Magee said. “They came out today and beat us. We didn’t play hard enough. We have to work harder. Next time we play them, we have to show them a much better game.”
The St. Francis offense did show some life in the final two innings of the game. In both the sixth and seventh innings, the Terriers loaded the bases. In the sixth, they were able to get three runs across the plate with help from a Xaverian error and on a fielder’s choice. In the seventh, St. Francis loaded the bases with one out, but couldn’t score any more runs.
The Terriers, who rallied to win the first game 4-3, had to use four different pitchers after starter Matt Treibel to get through the seven innings. Xaverian, on the other hand, got a stellar performance from ace Rob Amato. His breaking pitch was dipping and diving in and out of the zone all afternoon, keeping the Terriers hitters off balance.
“We’re not hitting that’s number one,” St. Francis coach Bro. Robert Kent said. “He is a good lefty pitcher and were struggling with the bats. We had too many first pitch swing and outs.”
St. Francis Prep knows things will have to change if they want to end their two-game losing streak after winning three of four prior to that.
“Our hitting has to pick up,” Magee said. “The simple plays have to be made, routine ground balls and pop flies have to be caught.”
