Four-run inning helps Lions hand Hawks first loss

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 4/26/16

The Bishop Hendricken baseball team stranded the tying run at third in each of the last two innings at Lincoln on Friday, as the Lions were able to hang on to hand the Hawks their first regular …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Four-run inning helps Lions hand Hawks first loss

Posted

The Bishop Hendricken baseball team stranded the tying run at third in each of the last two innings at Lincoln on Friday, as the Lions were able to hang on to hand the Hawks their first regular season loss since 2014, 4-3.

Hendricken had plenty of opportunities to take a sizeable lead in the early innings, but couldn’t take advantage.

It scratched across one run in the second when Jordan Carvalho brought Andrew Flint home with a single, and one in the third when Elijah Brown tripled home Dante Baldelli to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

However, that margin could’ve been far greater.

Hendricken left two runners on base in the second, and failed to plate more than one run in the third on two hits and two walks, leaving the bases loaded.

That two-run lead proved to be not nearly enough, as Lincoln quickly posted four runs in the bottom half of the third on four hits and a walk.

After that, Hendricken had trouble catching up against Lincoln ace Trevor Marques.

“They really just had the one inning where they got four runs, and we had a number of innings where we had guys on, bases loaded, second and third,” Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway said. “I give [Marques] the credit, he was able to battle out of it. He didn’t give in, battled our hitters and got the outs when he needed to.”

With the Hawks threatening in the second and third innings, starting pitcher Caleb Wurster had to endure a pair of lengthy waiting periods.

And after cruising through the first two innings, those hiatuses began to show through in the third inning.

After Wurster got Brenden Gannon to ground out to short to start the inning, the next five Lions reached safely – four on base hits and the fifth on a walk.

“I think it did,” Holloway said when asked if he thought the long layoffs impacted Wurster. “Not to make excuses, but it reminded me of his start last week against St. Ray’s. We had a couple of long innings and he struggled at the beginning of the game. It was just one of those things, they came back and got their four runs right then.”

Marques helped out his own cause when he knocked in the Lions’ first run, scoring Connor Sheehan with a single that cut Lincoln’s deficit in half, 2-1.

A Stephen Andrews single then knotted the game at 2, plating Sean Doris, before a balk and a wild pitch from Wurster brought home two more Lions, allowing them to take a 4-2 lead.

Joe Maynard would come on in relief for the Hawks after Wurster surrendered a leadoff double to Jeffrey Lisi in the fourth. Maynard was able to strand Lisi at second, and silenced Lincoln in the fifth and sixth innings, too, tossing three scoreless frames.

While Maynard was dealing, the Hawks’ offense continued to put good swings on Marques, but nothing materialized.

Hendricken registered two hits in the fourth and fifth innings, but Marques was able to maneuver out of both jams unharmed.

After walking Brendan Conley with two outs in the sixth, Lincoln head coach Andrew Hallam pulled Marques in favor of Sheehan.

With Baldelli standing just 90 feet away at third, Sheehan stepped up, striking out Flint on a breaking ball out of the zone to preserve his team’s one-run lead.

Maynard cruised through the bottom of the sixth to polish off his standout relief performance, giving his squad a chance facing just a one-run deficit in the top of the seventh.

Hawks’ third baseman Matt Sweeney singled off of Lincoln reliever Alex Levin to start the seventh, and he would advance all the way to third on a Billy Roberge sacrifice bunt, taking two bases thanks to a miscommunication in the infield.

But with Sweeney on third and just one out, Hendricken couldn’t come up with the clutch hit that it desperately needed.

Andrew Hopgood struck out and pinch-hitter Brian Cipolla flew out to Doris in right field, who collided with Sheehan in center, but hung on to secure the win.

Losing in the regular season doesn’t happen often for Hendricken, but in hindsight, the loss doesn’t mean all that much.

The Hawks were already looking to the next game shortly after the conclusion of Friday’s game, focusing on improving for the postseason.

“This is history now, so we’re just looking to the next game,” Holloway said. “We’re just trying to get better every day.”

Hendricken will look to get back in the win column today when it travels to Middletown for a 4 p.m. start.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here