And on…
By Dylan Butler
It is bizzaro baseball at its best, when it’s better for pitchers to keep the ball up in the strike zone for long fly-ball outs than to roll the dice with a ground ball in an infield that has more surprises in it than a box of Cracker Jacks.
And on Friday at Cunningham Park, it was visiting Molloy that mastered St. Francis Prep’s unpredictable home field in a 7-1 league win.
“On the ground here, it’s almost like a guaranteed hit whether it’s in the infield or the outfield,” said Molloy first baseman Matt Rizzotti, who was 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. “The outfielders try and play (the ball), block it and it jumps over their heads.”
Brian Duffy was solid for the Stanners, tossing a complete-game five-hitter. Pitching on three days’ rest, he struck out six with a steady diet of off-speed stuff, and the lone run Molloy (7-2, 4-1 CHSAA) did give up was unearned after a two-base throwing error by catcher Chris Kaible.
“My fastball wasn’t as good as it normally is because I was coming off three days’ rest, but my curve ball and change up were working,” Duffy said. “I was throwing them for strikes so that’s what I was throwing all game.”
With an unlimited outfield, Duffy was actually better off keeping his pitches up in the strike zone, something he couldn’t afford to do at Stanner Field.
“On our field it would have been a disaster,” Molloy coach Jack Curran said. “Duffy threw strikes, he was ahead of most of the batters and he made them hit the ball.”
After taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Molloy broke the game open in the fifth, adding two runs on a pair of errors by St. Francis Prep shortstop Justin Gueli.
The Stanners tacked on three more runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run double to left by Matt Murdoch.
“That’s the secret to this field,” St. Francis Prep coach Bro. Robert Kent said. “On this field it has to be line drives. Juniper (Park), where Christ the King is, the same thing, but at Molloy it would have been home runs.”
St. Francis Prep ace Rich Armento was the hard luck loser, giving up four runs — two unearned — on nine hits, while striking out two with two walks.
St. Francis Prep (7-2, 3-2) had chances in the second and third innings to make it close, getting a runner to third base with one out in each inning.
But Duffy struck out Robert Paccione and got Gueli to pop out to Kaible in the second and struck out Kevin Benway and Joseph Taddeo in the third.
McClancy 11, Christ the King 1. Bob Gorvetzian went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Randy White had two hits and two RBIs for McClancy (6-2, 3-3 CHSAA). Christ the King falls to 0-6 in the league.
Xaverian 19, Holy Cross 4. Curtis Lovelle went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and four RBIs, and Dave Odum was 2-for-5 with a two-run home run for Xaverian (7-3, 4-1 CHSAA). Holy Cross falls to 1-5 in the league.
Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
