Pat
the Stat
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Patrick "Pat the Stat" Gordon is one of our trusty statisticians/observers. He is not to be confused with Phillies slugger Pat "The Bat" Burrell. "Stat" is a 2000 North Catholic grad now studying journalism at Temple. He will report on occasional Falcons' games and maybe some others as well. He promises to provide balanced reports. You may contact Pat at RotoBurnAL@aol.com.
APRIL 20
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Ryan 12, North Catholic 0
Some days you’re just in the zone and on
Friday, Archbishop Ryan’s ace LHP Lou DeTitto was in the zone -- the
strike zone, that is. DeTitto consistently threw a curve that many of the Falcon
hitters said seemed "unhittable" and fell behind just two hitters the whole
game. Falcon sr. OF Mike Gallagher put things in
perspective when he said, "It’s like the ball just disappears."
Disappear was an appropriate word to describe DeTitto’s curve, as he
completely mastered North’s offense one through nine and pitched a showcase that even
Cy Young would be proud of. He allowed just one hit, striking out 13 and
walking none and coming within one STRIKE of a perfect game! Sr. CF Danny
Szychulski broke up DeTitto’s perfect game in the top of the 7th
with a 0-2 count on a seeing-eye single to right-center. Szychulski said while he was
stepping up to the plate that he was going to break up the perfect game and sure enough he
kept his word. Maybe the whole team should put as much effort as Danny does into each
at-bat, then the whole team could be possible All-Catholics. (Well, maybe not but
it’s worth a shot at this point). That lone moment was the only chance the North
bench could cheer all afternoon. I don’t think the coaches' idea of hearing
cheers would be in hopes of a lazy single with a 12-0 deficit. The coaches still looked
mighty upset and they had every right to be even when Szychulski reached first. Of
course, DeTitto went on to get slugging 1B Mike Piotrowicz, a jr., to
ground out immediately to cap the game. On the other side of the diamond, North's starter,
jr. LHP Keith White, looked mediocre. He pitched just four innings,
giving up four hits, striking out four and giving up 11 runs; however, just two runs of
the eleven were earned. Ryan OF Tom Dolan led the attack, going
2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. Dolan, batting out of the sixth spot, would
have gone 3-for-3 with three doubles if it wasn’t for an acrobatic grab by LF
Gallagher in the third inning. Gallagher’s grab was the only defensive highlight for
the 1-5 Falcons, who fell to seventh in the CL North. Ryan improved to 3-3 and snapped a
three-game losing streak. Ryan is now tied with Conwell-Egan for the third spot in
the North.
Pat the Stat’s interesting stats of the game: North
jr. RHP Eddie Poserina again did well in relief, giving up just one run
while striking out four in two innings of work . . . Ryan crossed the plate
seven times in the second inning and batted around the order. In that inning alone,
North committed five of its seven errors for the game.
APRIL 9
Catholic League
McDevitt 7, North Catholic 5
Monday was another beautiful day for baseball, and a huge day
in the newly born season for the Fightin’ Falcons of North Catholic. The
opponent was Bishop McDevitt, which came into the game sporting a 0-2 record, as did the
Falcons. Both starters, Falcons sr. LHP Danny Szychulski and McDevitt RHP
Dave Melcher, pitched superbly through the first three innings, each
going 1-2-3 and each striking out three. However, the fourth inning looked like a
different ball game as McDevitt jr. 2B Sean Jones tripled to deep rightfield to
begin the bottom half. Sr. SS Tom Bennett followed by smacking a base hit
to center and McDevitt was up, 1-0. Now with no outs and Bennett sitting on third base
thanks to a wild pitch, Danny Szychulski walked jr. 1B Doug Garrett to
give McDevitt runners on the corners with no one out. A key strikeout and a
groundout put two outs on the board for North but Garrett stole second on the first pitch
to soph LF Andrew Kovach. With runners on second and third, and a 2-1
count, Kovach hit a blazing line drive just past the reach of jr. 2B Timmy Greer.
Bennett and Garrett scored, making it a 3-0 ballgame. Down 3-0, the Falcons
led off the bottom of
the fourth with Greer walking, and jr. CF Keith White reaching on an
error. With no outs, Szychulski came to the plate. Szychulski, who has slumped in the
early going, blistered a 1-1 pitch to the gap. Greer scored from second and Szychulski
picked up his first RBI of the year. With first base open, McDevitt opted to issue an
intentional walk. That proved to be a huge mistake as soph Mike Karpovich
hit a deep drive over the leftfield fence to clear the bases. The dinger was the first of
the year for North and it was Karpovich’s first hit wearing a varsity jersey.
The grand slam gave North a 5-3 lead and a glimmer of hope to win its first game of the
season and the first of coach Tom Wenger’s varsity
career. But it wasn't to be. A bases-loaded walk and Melcher's one-run single
created a tie in the fifth. North threatened in the bottom of the sixth and actually had
the bases loaded with no outs, but could not get a single run in thanks to the excellent
relief pitching of sr. RHP Luke Erb. Szychulski
came out in the sixth after walking his sixth batter. Soph RHP Shaun Gallagher
came in with one out and struck out his first two batters to get out of the
jam. Going into the top of the seventh with a 5-5 score Gallagher walked Jones and
then yielded a single to Bennett. Garrett then came to the plate and lofted a
sacrifice fly down the rightfield line, scoring Jones and giving McDevitt
the decisive run. North went 1-2-3 in the seventh. McDevitt climbs out of the cellar (1-2)
with the win while North drops to 0-3. Although it is still early in the season, the
Falcons need to start to take these games seriously and need to execute the fundamentals.
A team can not afford tohave the bases loaded in a close game and not even have the
ability to get arun on the board, no matter how poor or excellent the offense may be.
Another loss anytime soon may clip these Falcons' wings and they won’t have any
chance to fly out of the Catholic League cellar.
Pat the Stat's interesting stat of the game: Szychulski pitched
rather well except for the crucial walks scattered throughout the game. His line was six
strikeouts and three earned runs in 5.1 innings of work. McDevitt’s pitching
looked rather strong with Melcher and Erb. Erb had an incredible breaking ball
working for him in the final innings and that may have been what nailed the coffin for
North.
APRIL 5
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 15, North Catholic 1
In front of quite possibly the biggest crowd to
witness a NC baseball game in the last two years, the Falcons played horrendously
and lost, 15-1, to the defending CL champions, Father Judge. Falcons starter Jr. LHP
Keith White (0-1) looked rather unimpressive, giving up eight runs while walking
six, and allowing three hits in just 2.2 innings. Once White left the game in the third
inning Judge was already ahead 8-1 and never looked back. Neither did the Falcons'
fans -- they left in droves. The lone run the Falcons scored came in the bottom of the
first with a sacrifice fly by jr. RF Steve Cross scoring jr. 2B Tim
Greer from third. Sr. 2B John Horcher and sr. 3B Jim
Hasher led the 13-hit assault for Judge, combining to go 5-for-8 8 with five
singles, two RBI and two stolen bases. Horcher's two hits matched what North put up
all game as Greer and jr. 1B Mike Piotrowicz had one apiece. The
only bright spot for the Falcons was the relief pitching of Jr. Ed Poserina;
he pitched 2.1 shutout innings, struck out one and just gave up two hits. Poserina also
pitched well in the season opener against Bonner (L 6-1), so he may see a bright future
with North's varsity club. With the victory, the Crusaders of Judge improved to 2-0,
North dropped to 0-2. Throughout the whole game I was very impressed with Judge's ability
to really crush the ball and with the ability of sr. RHP Kevin Barry and
jr. RHP Drew Mammarella. Together, the two pitchers
allowed just two hits, struck out six and walked just three. Offensively, it looked as if
every player on the team could put the ball anywhere on the field whenever they wanted to.
North's failure to execute the fundamentals of fielding, and swinging the bats,
resulted in this pounding. Now off to an 0-2 start, North hopes to turn things
around on Monday when they play McDevitt (0-2) at home. Meanwhile, Judge will try to
continue its domination of the CL on Monday as Conwell-Egan (1-1) looks to knock off the
defending champions. Also, North will visit the Crusaders on May 2 for the finale of the
two-game set.
Pat the Stat's impressive stat of the game: Judge's bench combined for
a line of 4-for-7, two doubles, two runs scored, and just one strikeout.