Christian Brothers Academy’s baseball team enjoyed its best 24-hour stretch of the season over the weekend, completing a pair of satisfying regular-season sweeps.
First, the Brothers knocked off Bishop Ludden 5-2 Friday night at Alliance Bank Stadium. Then, a day later, it went to Jamesville-DeWitt and held off the Red Rams 5-4 to improve to 10-1 on the season.
CBA’s rematch with Ludden was part of the fifth annual Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease Classic, a three-day, six-game fund-raiser at the Syracuse Chiefs’ home for ALS research and treatment at SUNY-Upstate Medical University.
It also gave pitching ace Jack Glover a second chance to face the same Ludden side he had beaten 3-2 back on April 18, opposed this time by Ryan O’Kane, back from an illness that had sidelined him earlier this season.
In the bottom of the second inning, CBA got to O’Kane for three runs in what proved to be a decisive rally. Single runs followed in the third and fourth innings as Glover, helping himself, tripled and earned an RBI. Bryce Wiley (whose home run was so pivotal in the first win over Ludden) and Sean Lavin also drove in runs.
Glover gave up eight hits and five walks, constantly getting into trouble. But he kept getting out off it, too, striking out eight and keeping the Gaelic Knights off the board until single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
This led to the rematch with J-D, whom it had beaten 9-4 on April 12. And the Red Rams appeared ready for payback when it got three runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead.
However, the Brothers immediately answered with its own three-run rally in the top of the fourth. J-D tied it again, 4-4, and it remained that way until the sixth, when CBA poked across a single run against the Rams’ Chris McGee (relieving for Max Bregande) that proved decisive.
Pat Pierret, who took over in relief in the fourth after Brad McAuliffe started, went four innings and earned the win. Mike Trasolini drove in two runs as Camillo Spinoso and Bobby Anderson had one RBI apiece. J-D’s Paul Fitzgibbons doubled and earned a pair of RBIs to lead his side.
This eventful week for CBA had started in a negative manner, as it went to Chittenango and lost, 5-4, to the same Bears side it had beaten 6-4 earlier in the month.
Quickly, the Brothers fell behind thanks to a trio of first-inning Chittenango runs. In the third inning, CBA closed within 3-2, only to have the Bears restore the margin as, by this point, Wes Burghardt already had a home run and three RBIs.
In the fifth, CBA pulled back within a run and chased starter Greg Jasek, but Burghardt, along with Devin Christopher, threw two innings of shutout relief to pull it out.
Mark Finley took the loss, with Emmet Dunn looking strong in a long relief stint, holding the Bears without a hit in three innings of work. Lavin led CBA at the plate with three hits and two RBIs as Mason Garlatti also drove in a run.
While this went on, J-D beat Phoenix 4-2, a game that was in doubt until the top of the seventh, when Matt Yonta blasted a two-run home run to break a 2-2 tie.
Prior to that, the Red Rams had seen 1-0 and 2-1 leads disappear, despite two hits and an RBI from Dan Canfield and Chris McGee driving in a run. McGee also pitched, going 5 2/3 innings before Kyle Naugle relieved him, not allowing a hit in his stint and earning the win in the process.
J-D recovered, though – and did so, ironically enough, against Bishop Ludden, riding Yonta’s terrific pitching to a 7-1 win over the Gaelic Knights on Wednesday afternoon.
Yonta got immediate help when J-D scored twice in the first and third innings, eventually building the lead to 7-0 in the top of the sixth. Paul Fitzgibbons and Jimmy Sinopoli each had a double and two RBIs, while Canfield and Chris Lenish also drove in runs.
Though he gave up seven hits in six innings of work, Yonta struck out six and constantly escaped trouble. Kyle Naugle worked the seventh inning and closed it out.
