Roman Catholic, ranked No. 24 in the latest Philly.com Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 25, has now won four consecutive games, outscoring opponents 38-7 in that span. The loss for the Hawks ends their three game winning streak.

After two innings, the score was tied at one, with Roman Catholic scoring in the top of the first and The Prep answering in the bottom of the second. Roman Catholic retook the lead in the top of the third, starting the inning with a double by junior third baseman Shane Flaherty. Two batters later, senior left fielder Kevin Flaherty hit an RBI single to break the tie. The next two batters hit singles to load the bases with one out. Senior catcher Kevin Glynn hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 3-1 in favor of the Cahillites. 

The Hawks fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. With one out, St. Joseph’s Prep got three straight hits off Nave, culminating with an RBI triple by Keith Flaherty to tie the game.

Roman Catholic scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead for the rest of the game. Nave started the inning with a pop fly single to right field. With one out, Shane Flaherty reached after an error on his sacrifice bunt attempt. The third baseman for St. Joseph’s charged because the team was in bunt defense and none of his teammates filled his position, leaving third base unoccupied. Werten Bellamy III, serving as a courtesy runner for Nave, did not advance leaving runners at first and second.

Bellamy’s not advancing did not come back to hurt the Cahillites, as sophomore centerfielder Marquise Wood hit an RBI single to bring him home. Kevin Flaherty followed it up with an RBI single of his own, a line drive past back up the middle past Hawks junior pitcher George Stewart, to make it 5-3 Cahillites and put runners on first and second.

During the next at bat, Wood stole third without a throw from sophomore catcher Logan Kellerman. However, Kevin Flaherty did not steal second base as the trail runner. A few pitches later, Stewart had the runner picked off of first. The Hawks saw Wood inching off third base and tried to cut down the run, but threw the ball over the third baseman’s head and down the left field foul line, giving the Cahillites a 6-3 lead.

Valucci has made it a goal for his team to score six runs each game.

“Our coach always says whatever team gets to six first usually wins the game,” Kevin Flaherty said. “When we got to six today, I knew we had it. Even when the subs came in we ripped the ball. We were ready to play.”

Roman Catholic will go for its fifth straight win at home against Bishop McDevitt Wednesday afternoon.

The Hawks’ next matchup is Wednesday at home against Neumann-Goretti, ranked No. 20 in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 25. St. Joseph’s Prep could make some changes to its lineup in the coming games.

“I think that the positives are that we’ve gotten to the midpoint of the season, kind of looking forward we need to look at some guys on the bench and get a sense of what they can bring to the team moving forward,” Falcone said. “I don’t know how that’s going to work out, but they deserve a shot and we’re going to give them a shot in a meaningful game sooner than later.”