SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - The forecast may have been rainy, but that did not stop the St. Joseph's Prep baseball team from shining on the diamond this past Monday.
St. Joe's junior starting pitcher, Colin Scanlon, pitched his way through six strong innings against the La Salle High School College Explorers and only gave up two runs total during that stretch.
Scanlon's effort, which included a game high 13 strikeouts, paved the way to a 5-2, Hawks win over La Salle, their fourth Philadelphia Catholic League victory in eight league games.
The left-hander gave credit to his offense however, saying that their consistent hitting gave him a relaxed confidence on the mound when he found himself in tough situations with opposing Explorer's in scoring position.
"I was confident in my team hitting wise. We've been hot with the bats lately," Scanlon said. "I figured one run here and there wouldn't be so bad because I felt that my teammates would have my back when hitting."
Sophomore Giani Arici hit a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning to chase starting pitcher Joseph Peluso from the game and put the Hawks up 5-2. (Evan Easterling/Philly Sports Digest)
Facing a 1-0 deficit, the Explorer's immediately responded in the next inning.
La Salle's Gerald Mangan led off the top of the third by staying patient and drawing a walk. After a Scanlon strikeout in favor of the Hawks, Michael Chiaradonna advanced Mangan to third base on a base hit for the Explorers. With a runner in scoring position, Andrew Cossetti popped-up a textbook sacrifice fly to deep left field, allowing Mangan to tag, score and tie up the ball game at 1-1 in the third inning.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the fifth inning proved to be the difference maker in the contest.
La Salle started off the top of the fifth with a lead off triple from senior, Andrew Ciarlone. Later on in the inning, junior Explorer, Michael Landry, was able to bring Ciarlone home thanks to another perfectly executed sac-fly, this time to deep right field.
Now trailing from behind, the Hawks did not let the slim 2-1 Explorer lead phase their confidence in the batter's box.
Though St. Joe's started their half of the inning with a ground out to shortstop, they continued to swing their bats swiftly. Luke Donaphon hit a hard grounder up the middle to get on base first for the Hawks. During the next at-bat, John Coppola perfectly placed a low line drive to shallow center putting himself on first base and advancing Donaphon on second. Keith Flaherty would then fly out on a blooper to deep left field, putting the Hawks in a tough spot with runners on first and second and two outs down.
Jeff Manto stayed poised for St. Joe's though, and was able to hit an RBI single up the first base line, bringing Donaphon home with the tying run and pushing Coppola to third.
Scanlon's faith in his hitters paid off -- the Hawks ended the game with a total of nine hits, four more than the Explorers.
St. Joe's sophomore, Logan Kellerman, put the Hawks on the board first with an RBI single to center field early on in the bottom of the second inning.
Hawks' coach, Joe Falcone stated after the game how important the early lead was en route to the win.
"All four league wins, we've scored first." Falcone said. "It was big, especially with a kid like Colin Scanlon on the mound who can throw strikes, dictate the game...not give up many runs...to score first and put a little pressure on them...it helps."
Colin Scanlon on how he settled into the game.
Michael Chiaradonna slides under Giani Arici's tag to steal second base. (Evan Easterling/Philly Sports Digest)
From there, momentum seemed to be shifting rapidly to the Hawks' dugout.
With runners on first and third, Phil O'Connor stepped up with an RBI base hit to left center, giving the lead back to St. Joseph's.
Then, Gianni Arici, who was playing JV baseball for the Hawks earlier this season, extended the 3-2 lead even more with the hit of the game. The sophomore call up blasted a two run RBI double to deep left field, bringing both Manto and O'Connor home to score and giving the Hawks a three run, 5-2 lead over the Explorers.
"He had a big hit," Hawks coach Joe Falcone said of Arici's two run double that seemingly sealed the game. "Since he's been up here [from junior varsity] he's hit the ball really well and none bigger than that one."
Falcone added that the addition of Arici has helped to round out the varsity roster, especially when it comes to offense.
"He was just killing the ball in JV and it was a reward to bring him up," Falcone said. "We figured we could maximize our lineup by getting him out into the field, putting him later in the lineup where he would see more fastballs and maybe taking a little pressure of our starting shortstop Jeff Manto...just to hit and focus on hitting instead of worrying about all of the responsibilities that shortstop brings."
St. Joseph's Prep 5, La Salle College High School 2
Colin Scanlon threw six innings and struck out 13 in a win for the Hawks. (Evan Easterling/Philly Sports Digest).
After one more scoreless inning thanks to the clutch pitching of Scanlon, Pat Woltemate was called in for relief to start and end the final inning.
Woltemate pitched a 1-2-3 inning to close out the contest consisting of two strikeouts, and the Hawks improved to 6-8 overall and 4-4 in league play with the 5-2 win over the Explorers.
La Salle suffered its third straight loss, dropping to 6-3 overall and 6-2 in PCL play after starting the season with six straight victories.
Explorers outfielder Langston Livingston strikes out on a pitch in the dirt from Colin Scanlon. (Evan Easterling/Philly Sports Digest)
Explorers Statistics, courtesy of St. Joseph's Prep Manager Joe Loonstyn
| No. | Class | Name | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | junior | Michael Chiaradonna | 1--3, 2 Ks |
| 3 | sophomore | Andrew Cossetti | 0--2, sac fly, RBI, 2 Ks |
| 10 | senior | Kyle Hemcher | 1--3, 2B, K |
| 12 | senior | Langston Livingston | 1--3, 2B, 2 Ks |
| 23 | junior | Greggory Sywulak | 0--2, BB, 2 Ks |
| 34 | junior | Zachary Moretski | 0--3, 2 Ks |
| 5 | senior | Gerald Mangan | 1--3, BB, R, 2 Ks |
| 1 | senior | Andrew Ciarlone | 1--2, 3B, R |
| 16 | junior | Michael Landry | 0--2, sac fly, RBI, 2 Ks |
| PITCHERS | |||
| 21 | senior | Joseph Peluso | L, 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 79 pitches |
| 13 | junior | Luke Ratchford | 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 21 pitches |
Hawks Stats, courtesy of St. Joseph's Prep Manager Joe Loonstyn
| No. | Class | Name | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | sophomore | Evan Matthews | 0--3, BB |
| 4 | sophomore | Luke Donaphon | 1--4, R |
| 24 | senior | John Coppola | 2--4, R, 2 Ks |
| 23 | senior | Keith Flaherty | 0--3, K |
| 13 | junior | Jeff Manto | 2--3, R, RBI |
| 11 | sophomore | Phil O'Connor | 1--3, R, RBI, K |
| 20 | sophomore | Giani Arici | 2--2, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB |
| 3 | junior | Ronnie Cavalier | 0--2 |
| 1 | sophomore | Logan Kellerman | 1--3, RBI, K |
| PITCHERS | |||
| 31 | junior | Colin Scanlon | W, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 13 K, 108 pitches |
| 2 | junior | Pat Woltemate | SV, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 11 pitches |