MAY 21
CATHOLIC LEAGUE PLAYOFFS, LOSERS BRACKET FINAL
Ryan 7, Wood 4 (8 inn.)
  Elimination playoff baseball, is there anything more exciting?! With the new Catholic League playoff format, Archbishop Ryan was given a second chance after dropping their opening game to the Vikings of Archbishop Wood. How did Ryan respond to that opening loss? I’d say quite well after beating bitter Northeast rival Father Judge (12-6), and following up that performance with a 9-0 shellacking of Bonner (winner of the Catholic League Blue Division at 12-0). Six days after the first affair, here we stood again, Archbishop Ryan vs Archbishop Wood. This time the stakes were much higher, winner advances, loser goes home. At this point in the post-season teams are deep into their respective pitching staffs. Getting the start today for the Raiders was Sr. RHP Rick Romano, and his counterpart was Sr. LHP Justin Babb for Wood. Each pitcher breezed through their first inning, with the only blemishes being walks issued to each team’s respective 2nd batter ( Soph. DH Shane Smith for Ryan and Jr. 2B Matt Mandes for Wood). Wood broke into the scoring column in the bottom half of the 2nd inning when Sr. 1B Jack Hilferty singled to SS, after Jr. 3B Tom Derer couldn’t quite cut if off (the ball deflected off his glove and over Sr. SS Dan Stahl’s head.), chasing home Sr. C John Santospago. Romano was able to bounce back nicely striking out the next two hitters stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd. After scoreless top and bottom halves of 3rd inning, Ryan finally was able to break through against Babb after stranding 2 runners in the previous inning. Sr. OF Gage Galeone led off the top of the 4th inning with a walk, followed by a Sr. 1B Matt Graber, and the Raiders were in business. After a perfectly executed double steal, Sr. C Dylan Egan hit a sacrifice fly to center tying the score at 1-1. Ryan took the lead on the very next pitch as Derer ripped a single to center chasing home Graber (Derer advanced to second on the throw). Sr. OF Justin Price drove home the third run of the inning on a single to center. With 2 on and 2 out Babb issued an intentional walk to Jr. 2B Bob Romano, ultimately ending the day for Babb. His final stat line was 3.2 IP 4 H 3 R 2 ER 5 BB 3 K. Next on the bump for Wood was Sr. RHP Brian Wojtko, who was able to retire Ryan’s cleanup hitter Jr. OF Connor Golden on just one pitch, it was not easy though as Golden just missed the pitch as it fell just shy of a grand slam. Wood managed to get 1 run back after an error by Galeone in center allowing Sr. OF Brett McCrossen to reach second, he was later chased home on an RBI groundout by Hilferty. A scoreless 5th inning and top half of the 6th brought us to the bottom half with Ryan leading 3-2. After retiring each of the first hitters, Romano fell behind in the count to McCrossen who unloaded a 2-out game-tying home run to deep left field. Romano recovered to finish the inning, but the damage was done as we were tied at 3-3. The top half of the 7th inning was filled with some serious potentially game-altering controversial plays. With Golden standing on 2nd base and 2 out (single followed by a steal), Galeone ripped a grounder down the third base line that clearly hit off the glove of Sr. 3B Colt Smith’s glove in fair territory. Golden easily scored and Galeone was heading for 2md, but with a VERY late call, the home plate umpire ruled it a foul ball. Now I have officials in my family so I try to not to be too hard on officials, but this was a blown call. And to top it all off when the Ryan coaching staff asked for the umpires to get together and discuss the play, they were issued unsolicited warnings by the field umpire and ordered to return to the dugout and remain silent. In a heated playoff game, especially on a bang-bang play, it is expected that one side or the other is going to argue, the umpires needed to do a better job of keeping their cool in my opinion here. Anyway, needless to say Galeone was retired shortly thereafter taking us to the bottom half of the 7th tied at 3-3. Romano was able to dance his way out of danger after allowing the leadoff batter to reach sending us to extra innings, FREE BASEBALL FOLKS! With 1 out, Egan singled to center then gave way to courtesy runner Jr. OF Jason Dones, who promptly stole second base. After Derer singled to left Ryan had runners on the corners with only 1 down. Coach Ron Gerhart elected to go with a pinch-hitter in Jr. Chris Sanchez, who provided an RBI sacrifice fly to right field giving Ryan a 4-3 lead. Derer was heads up on the bases advancing all the way to third on the play. After an intentional walk to Stahl, followed by an advancement to second on a defensive indifference, Smith stepped in with a real opportunity to drive in some insurance runs. After a great battle at the plate, on a 3-2 pitch Smith ripped a 2-run 2-out single to right field giving the Raiders a 6-3 lead. Romano tacked on another insurance run by driving a double into the left center field gap. In the bottom of the 8th the Raiders made a pitching change turning to Sr. LHP Hayden Daughtery to close it out. Daughtery, allowed a leadoff single, but then managed to get the first out on a fielder’s choice (Stahl to Romano). McCrossen worked a full-count walk just before Sr. OF Benji Abercrombie ripped a single to center field, loading the bases with 1-out for Wood. Hilferty drove in his 3rd run of the game on a single to center bringing Wood to within 7-4, bases still loaded and only 1 out. Coach Gerhart then turned to Jr. RHP Nick Centeno, who I have never seen pitch before but assistant coach Jerry Eck assured him he had electric stuff. With that said Centeno made quick work of the only two hitters he would face by striking out the first and inducing a ground-out to first ending the game. Centeno slammed the door in a very dicey situation preserving the win for the player of the Rick Romano who gutted out 7 tough innings on the mound 3 H 3 R 2 ER 5 BB and 6 K on 108 pitches. After a game full of ups and downs, Ryan will have a day off before they meet St. Joe’s Prep on Thursday afternoon at Immaculata University, in yet another elimination game. The winner of this matchup will move on to the Catholic League Championship where the Explorers of La Salle will be waiting for them.

MAY 15
CATHOLIC PLAYOFF, FIRST ROUND
Wood 7, Ryan 3
  On a beautiful May afternoon, Archbishop Ryan and Archbishop Wood met in a Catholic League playoff game for the first time since the 2010 semifinals, a game won by the Raiders of Archbishop Ryan 9-8. Today appeared to have the makings of a serious pitcher’s duel with both teams throwing First Team All-Catholic pitchers in their respective divisions. For Wood, Sr. RHP Scott Boches took the bump in the top of the first, and after plunking leadoff hitter Sr. SS Dan Stahl (First Team All-Catholic DH) on a 1-2 pitch, he was able to escape the first inning unscathed. Sr. RHP Chris Elmes' bottom of the first was relatively similar, after walking the second batter of the inning he too posted a donut. The scoring opened in the top half of the second inning when Sr. OF Justin Price singled to right to chase home Sr. 1B Matt Graber. The single came after a throwing error by Boches on a dead double-play ball hit right back to him with one out. So with the bases loaded, one out still, and the top of the lineup coming to bat, things were looking primed for a Ryan rally. Stahl chased home a second run on a sacrifice fly to center field, but that would be the only additional run they would tack on. Trailing 2-0, Wood wasted no time in responding by loading the bases with nobody out for Sr. OF Mike Drumm, who drove home the first run with a walk. Sr. INF Colt Smith tied the game on an RBI single to centerfield. With still NOBODY out, Elmes was in some seriously hot water. Much to his credit, he was able to keep his cool and navigate his way through the rest of the inning, stranding the bases loaded. After a scoreless top half of the third, Wood managed to string together a solid 3-run bottom of the third inning to take the lead, and also get some breathing room. The first run was scored after Sr. OF Brett McCrossen doubled to right field, but was then thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple. This could have been a huge momentum swing for Ryan if they were able to limit the inning to just one run; however, this was not the case as Elmes began to struggle with command. Elmes proceeded to walk each of the next two hitters, missing up and way up above the zone with many of the pitches. Once again Elmes was able to keep his cool and get Colt Smith to hit into what appeared to be an inning-ending groundout, but unfortunately the ball slid under the glove of Ryan 2B Bob Romano (First Team All-Catholic) allowing Sr. 1B Jack Hilferty to score from second and keep the inning alive. Drumm scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch from Elmes. After a scoreless top and bottom halves of the fourth inning, Ryan had the top of the lineup due up to begin the fifth in desperate need of a spark. The aforementioned spark was provided by Stahl, who would lead off the inning with a double to right field. The inning appeared to be left for dead as Boches was able to retire the next two hitters on a groundout and strikeout respectively. In stepped Ryan’s cleanup hitter Sr. OF Connor Golden (Second Team All-Catholic). Ahead in the count 2-0, Golden got his pitch and boy did he CRUSH it to DEEEEEP right center field for a 2-out RBI triple. This put some life into the Ryan dugout, however for the Raiders, Boches was able to quickly collect himself by striking out Sr. OF Gage Galeone. In the bottom of the 5th, Elmes was replaced by Sr. RHP Rick Romano after walking the leadoff batter. Elmes final stat line was 4+ IP with 5 hits, 5 runs (2 earned), 8 walks, and 3 strikeouts. It was a rough afternoon for Elmes control-wise, he just never seemed to be comfortable out there. Here’s to hoping he gets another chance to redeem himself this post-season as he appears to have a good head on his shoulders and today’s performance is not indicative of the pitcher he is capable of being. Wood was able to put the nail in the coffin during the bottom half of the sixth inning when McCrossen hit his second double of the game to deep center field ,chasing home Sr. OFs Joe Santospago and Benji Abercrombie. Boches had a relatively easy final inning only allowing Romano to reach on an infield single. Player of the game honors goes to both Boches (7 IP 5 H 3 R 2 ER 2 BB 9K) and McCrossen (3 for 4, 2 doubles, 3 RBI). Boches had a Justin Verlander-esque start today as he appeared to only get stronger as the innings went on; also his velocity appeared to be at its peak in the final innings. It was rough day for the Raiders with entirely too many walks (10 in total) and some untimely errors that Wood was able to capitalize on. After mustering only 5 hits, coupled with 9 strikeouts, the Raiders will need to find ways to put the ball in play more in their next outing if they hope to remain in the playoffs. It was a true pleasure to be back and out on the trail again. It brought back some wonderful memories, especially the amazing 2010 playoff run to the Catholic League Championship. It seems like just yesterday I was watching great players and great friends like Sean Kovacs, Colin Budny, Pat Kwiatkowski, and Eric Frain rock the Ryan uniform. This new batch of Raiders appear to have many of the same qualities as that group, so hopefully they can come together and take advantage of the second chance they are being given and make a deep run in the playoffs. As always, thank you Ted for allowing me to apart of the website.