Calvary Christian Tops C.S. Christian 9-3 In Battle Of District 14-2A Unbeatens

In a battle between undefeated district rivals, Calvary Christian broke a sixth inning 2-2 tie with a seven run explosion en route to a 9-3 victory over Coral Springs Christian.

A pair of two out RBI singles by Anthony Avila and Andrew Liberty staked the Eagles to an early 2-0 lead after one inning.

While Calvary’s starter Ryan Lowery was facing the minimum nine batters in allowing nothing through three frames, Coral Springs Christian’s starter Billy Atkins settled down after the first and matched zeroes with his mound opponent.

Two walks and a pair of hit Crusaders batters cut the Eagles lead to 2-1 after three and one half innings. However, the Crusaders still had not gotten a base hit.

After holding the home team scoreless in the third, CSC was within striking distance, and strike they did when they scored the tying run without a hit in the fifth, as Lowery continued to have control issues. He plunked his fourth batter leading off the inning. The recipient, Dominic Ferrusi, eventually came around to score an unearned run when left fielder Stephen Barnett, after a long run and converging with his shortstop and third baseman, couldn’t hold a short fly ball down the left field line. The error allowed Ferrusi to score knotting the game at two apiece.

Calvary wasted a lead off single by Emilio DeSilva in their half of the fifth, so entering the sixth the Crusaders were in a 2-2 tie, but were still hit-less.

Clean-up hitter Jesse Feyers laid down a perfect bunt, ending Lowery’s no-hit bid when Eagles third baseman Kevin Knapp fielded the ball cleanly but had no play on Feyers.

“I was a little surprised when he laid down a bunt, “said Lowery. “but it was a good bunt and a good time for it too,” added Lowery.

With one down, Nick Lamberti hit a grounder to first baseman Chris Walkerow, who fired to second too late to get the lead runner. With runners at first and second and one down, coach Greg Mucerino, sensing that his starter might be tiring, went to his bullpen and brought in Seth Natal. The reliever promptly retired the next two batters leaving runners at the corners.

“He threw the ball well,” said Mucerino, of his starter Lowery. “Ryan’s been good all year. He’s been throwing for us in relief but when we were in Sarasota he started game three for us and threw a complete game. He showed us that he can handle that role and so we gave him the start today.” Mucerino was quick to add, “I can’t say enough about Seth [Natal], coming in, in relief and the job he did out of the pen and in a tight spot.”

Walks can be game-breakers, and when Avila led off the Eagles half of the sixth with a free pass, Calvary took advantage. After a successful sacrifice bunt by Liberty, the go ahead run was in scoring position. It was here that the Calvary bats really came to life with an impressive display of clutch situational hitting.

Ryan Reilly crushed a two-strike fastball sending it soaring over Derek Barra’s head in center field to put the Eagles ahead 3-2.

“Ryan’s at-bat is the one that really got us going,” said a pleased Mucerino. “With two strikes, he hits the ball to the center field fence and that broke the bubble of tension where everybody’s trying to do ‘something,” added Mucerino.

After Calvary loaded the bases, DeSilva made it 4-2 with a bloop single to center. Gushue then drew an RBI walk, which was followed by Tyler Middlebrooks’ two-run double stretching the lead to 7-2. Dalton Dinatale then drilled a shot up the middle, driving in two more runs giving the Eagles a 9-2 lead.

Seventh inning singles by Kevin Knapp and Feyers (RBI) sandwiched around a walk gave the Crusaders a run but they fell to the Eagles 9-3 in round one of their 2011 match-ups.

Natal picks up the win in relief while Atkins takes the loss in a credible outing for Coral Springs Christian.

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