With a March 28 win over West Genesee under its belts, the Bishop Ludden baseball team had a bit of game experience on its side when it met up with Solvay in Thursday’s OHSL Liberty division opener at Valentine Field.
Here was a chance for the Gaelic Knights’ bats to unload –which it did, getting all kinds of hits in the course of a 25-7 victory over the Bearcats.
The two sides played to 3-3 first-inning draw, but Ludden started to get away by getting 10 runs in the course of the next two frames, building a 13-4 edge.
Still, that wasn’t enough, as the Gaelic Knights teed off for 12 runs in the fifth inning alone, eventually picking up 16 hits for the afternoon off five Solvay pitchers.
Chris Davis led the assault, twice going deep for home runs and finishing with seven RBIs, a career high. James Murray got a solo homer, while Matt Pirro doubled twice and drove in four runs. John Rooney had a double and RBI as Mike DeMaio, Ryan O’Kane, Casey Ganley and Corey Hunter earned one RBI apiece.
Solvay had a fair share of slugging success, too, as Taylor Delperuto and Ryan Bidwell both went deep for home runs. Delperuto also doubled and finished with four RBIs as Bidwell drove in two runs.
Pirro, pitching for the second game in a row (he worked four innings of relief against West Genesee), again got the win as Rooney an Dan Fadden took turns on the mound, too. Jake Haliwell took the loss.