By Laura Amato
They were ready to play some long ball.
The Monsignor McClancy baseball team cruised to an 11-1 victory over Archbishop Molloy last Wednesday, wrapping up the regular-season finale in five innings as the Crusaders slugged three home runs from three different players.
“One through nine we can see the ball and hit it,” said junior catcher Kyle Schaefer, who connected on one of the Crusaders’ homers in the BQCHSAA matchup. “We were in a slump for the last week or so. So we just wanted to come back, we worked on that and wanted to come into the game and put up numbers.”
Molloy jumped out to a quick one-run lead in the top of the first inning as John Herring scored on a 6-3 double play, but that was as much as the Stanners would get.
McClancy answered in the bottom of the frame – on Schaefer’s two-run blast over the fence in right center – and never looked back.
The Crusaders padded the lead throughout the game, but as far as McClancy was concerned, the key wasn’t the homers, it was the men on base.
Eight of the nine players in the lineup got on base at least once in the league title and, for McClancy, it all started at the top.
“It all starts with the big guy up front. When [leadoff hitter Quentin Holmes is] on base, it limits breaking balls, it just makes the other team bear down defensively,” Crusaders coach Nick Melito said. “If we get on, we go, and Kyle is really starting to hit.”
The Crusaders tweaked their lineup a bit in the finale – moving Schaefer up into the three-hole and letting senior shortstop Ryan Neuweiler hit cleanup – and, now, the squad sees no reason to change any of that.
The Crusaders hit through the order in the bottom of the fourth in an offensive explosion that was highlighted by Holmes’ two-out, three-run homer to left field. The senior outfielder finished the day with five RBI – including the final two to wrap up the shortened game.
“I was just seeing the fastball and I was able to sit back and recognize that,” Holmes said of his approach at the plate.
“Once I feel it and I see where the outfielders are, then I know how many bases I can really get out of that.”
While the bats stole the show, McClancy’s pitching couldn’t be completely overlooked. Thomas Hogan picked up the win on the mound, surrendering just three hits and one run in four innings of work, while Rob Berrios wrapped up the victory in the top of the fifth.
“We wanted our starter to give us four good innings and he did,” Melito said. “The plan was to throw Charlie [Neuweiler] for one and then Ryan for one, too, but obviously we scored the runs and that was the end of that.”
It’s a solid win and a good finish to a regular season that was a bit more up-and-down than the Crusaders planned, but McClancy knows the true test is ahead. This is a team that had its sights set on a city title as soon as last season ended and the Crusaders are coming into the playoffs with just one thought in mind – winning.
“Now the playoffs start and we just want to grind it out,” Schaefer said. “We’re coming for a championship.”
