 | 06.01.08 Moore Catholic @ Xaverian -2008 CHSAA Varsity A Baseball Play-offs at St. John's University, Queens, New York
In the first
inning, Moore’s Eddie Medina (#11) doubled in a run to score
Carmine Pellechia (#7) who stole first and second after he
singled to start the game.
Then
Joe Harten (#2) drove Medina with a double. Rich Palase (#6)
led-off the second inning with a triple. He later scores on a
single by Anthony Langone (#19). So, by the eleventh batter, the
Xaverian Head Coach,
Denis Canale, called time-out to remove his battered righty
starter from the mound in the second inning to move him to right
field, knowing well that his batting lineup would be a skeleton
without the blazing bat of
Anthony Hajjar (#22). Without any hesitation, the bruised,
but not down, Anthony would go to right field to patrol the
position that he has become so familiar with, in his junior year
Now that the
Xaverian Clippers were down by three runs at the end the top of
the second inning, Canale’s team had to play catch-up against a
Moore Catholic Mavericks team that is looking to grab a win for
two reasons: to secure their bid to the CHSAA Championship and
to avenge their
first loss of the 2008 season at the hands of the Clippers
on Staten Island, at the Richmond County Baseball Club on May
25, 2008.
At the end of the
third inning, it was the other way around. Coach
Nick Doscher‘s Mavericks were playing catch-up, as the
Clippers claimed the lead at five to four. But, it was not for
too long, as Steven Kaplan (#45), who took over for Hajjar to
stop the bleeding in the second inning, could not hold on to the
lead. Moore scored two runs in the top fourth, one in the fifth
and two in the sixth. The last two runs scored on a crushing
home run by Harten over the left field wall of St. John’s
University’s Keiser Field, while the Clippers remain scoreless
in the fourth and the fifth.
Down in four runs,
Xaverian erupted for four runs to tie the game in the sixth
inning. The very confident Hajjar , who scored Xaverian fourth
run in the third inning came with a clutch double to score
Alex Maldonado (#51) and John Fugarile (#5).
Before that, Fugarile
drove in Joseph Cespuglia (#25) and A.J. Passione (#30) to lower
the deficit at seven to five.
With both team
failing their chances to score in the seventh inning, the game
prolonged into extra inning.
The Mavericks profited on
miscues by the Xaverian
defense to score their lead-off batter, Palase , who got on base
in the top eighth on an E6. He proceeded to steal both second
and third base to go and score on a wild pitch.
With their back to
the wall, the Clippers started strong on single by Maldonado who
later reached second on a sac-bunt by Fugarile. Then, here comes
Hajjar, again, who hit a clutch single to score Maldonado.
Hajjar’s night was not over until he scored the winning
run on a RBI single by
Roberto Duran (#11) that would place Xaverian as the number
one contender in the 2008 CHSAA Division "A" Varsity
Championship at St. Johns' University on June 6, 2008.
On other note #24
Dominick Sacavelli beat Moore for the second time.
Story by Cameraman
Max Sanchez-Martinez
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