by Matt Krause
Cardinals took two of three games on a busy weekend of baseball.
It was a busy weekend of baseball for Bishop Ireton’s Cardinals. Jake Gutman and Gonzaga’s Pat Cooney were locked in a duel on a beautiful Thursday evening to start the week, only to see the Eagles explode for 6 runs in the final frame, the Cambridge crew suffered their first setback by a 9-2 count.
The next day, Ireton pounded the Wolves of Pope John Paul the Great 18-8 in Dumfries before returning to the “friendly confines” of Frank Mann field for their third game in three days.
If Coach Mike Gallagher can be certain about one thing after five games of the 2011 season, that one thing is that sophomore pitcher Cody Hagenston will give the Cardinals a strong outing.
So far, Hagenston has hurled 14 innings of 1-run ball, including six innings of shutout ball in a tough, grind-it-out win by the Cardinals over Liberty Christian Academy by a score of 4-0 on Saturday afternoon. Hagenston allowed only five hits on Saturday while striking out six.
While Hagenston was cruising on the mound, the Cardinal bats were slowly getting started. Corey Phillips led the game off with a double, but was doubled up when Andrew Selby flew out to left. After a fruitless second inning, the Cardinals came to life in the third.
Nick Tangora reached base on an error by LCA first baseman Zach Clinton, and a Sean Boldaji single pushed Tangora to second. That brought up Phillips, who hit a sharp grounder to third, which was misplayed by the LCA third baseman, Ryan Price. As the ball rolled into the outfield, Tangora rounded third to break the scoreless deadlock. Andrew Selby walked, loading the bases.
After a pitching change, the new LCA pitcher, Steve Hueber, balked in the Cardinals’ second run. Two strikeouts ended the party, and the Cardinals held a 2-0 lead. When the Redbirds went back to the plate in the 4th inning, Pat O’Connell reached on a rare strikeout-passed ball. A Wes Jenkins fielder’s choice brought John Todd to the plate. As Jenkins took off for second, Todd lined a ball sharply into the outfield to move Jenkins to third. With two outs, a double steal allowed Jenkins to score wile Todd was called out.
The Cardinals tacked on a second insurace run in the sixth inning on John Todd’s sacrifice fly. Ben Judd came in to pitch the seventh inning, and retired the Bulldogs thanks to a nifty double play. With the win, the Cardinals move to 4-1, 0-1 WCAC.
Ireton Stats
#23 Corey Phillips, C: 2-2,2 2B, Reached on Error
#7 Andrew Selby, CF: 0-2,BB
#3 Brian Lewis, SS: 0-3,
#10 Jake Guttman, 1B: 0-2, Reached on Error, R
#28 Pat O’Connell, DH: 0-0, HBP, SAC, Reached on Dropped Third Stike
#8 Wes Jenkins, 2B: 0-1, FC, BB, R
#27 John Todd, 3B: 1-2, RBI, SAC Fly, RBI
#13 Nick Tangora, RF-LF: 0-2, Reached on Error, R
#5 Sean Boldaji, LF: 1-2, R
a- #26 Alex Hurst, RF: 0-0
a- Entered at RF in the 6th for Tangora, who moved to left to replace Boldaji
PITCHING
#6 Cody Hagenston: 6 IP, 5 H, 6 K
#29 Ben Judd: 1 IP, 1 H
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