By Stephen Zitolo
Archbishop Molloy can’t seem to figure out Xaverian.
The Stanners baseball team dropped its third game this season in lopsided fashion to the Clippers, 7-0, in Bay Ridge May 11. Xaverian ace Robert Amato tossed a perfect game to hand Molloy its third straight defeat overall and drop it from contention for first place in the CHSAA Brooklyn-Queens division title. Molloy lost the first two matchups between the teams, 7-0 and 11-5, back in April.
“I just thought that he pitched great,” Molloy coach Brad Lyons said of Amato. “But what they really did well today was situational hitting as a team. They didn’t try to do too much. They took advantage of every opportunity that we gave them.”
Amato’s pitching line was flawless: seven innings, zero runs, zero hits and seven strikeouts.
Molloy junior Kevin Linitz led off the top of the seventh by hitting the ball between the mound and home plate, forcing Amato to jump off it and fire to first to just get him. Thomas Manetta then hit a slow ground ball to Xaverian first baseman Xavier Vargas. He raced to the bag to for the second out.
The final batter, senior Scott Hannon, hit a ground ball right at shortstop Phoenix Hernandez. Hernandez fired a bullet to first, which forced Vargas to jump in the air and put a swipe tag on Hannon. Everyone held their breath and looked to the first base umpire, who raised his right fist in the air.
“On the ground ball back to me I didn’t think I was going to get it,” he said. “But as soon as I got it, I knew I had to throw it as quick as I could. The last play, I thought it was going to go over our first baseman’s head. I was kind of nervous. But thankfully the first baseman got it.”
The Xaverian offense displayed some prowess as well. It put together two big innings to really make Amato comfortable on the mound. In the first inning the Clippers sent seven batters to the plate and scored three runs on four hits. In the fourth the offense was able to capitalize on two Molloy errors and two hits to scratch three more runs across the plate.
Even with the loss, Molloy still has high hopes for a long playoff run. It just has to get its offensive woes figured out in time.
“After taking a tough loss to a really good team like Xaverian, knowing that we have a spot in the playoffs and a shot to make up for what we’ve done is great because it gives the team a sense of hope,” Molloy pitcher Jonathan Meditz said. “But we have to come together as a team and find a way to get runs.”
