Long Ball Dooms CS Christian In 9-4 Loss To Kings Academy

The Coral Springs Christian high school baseball season has been a roller coaster ride. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, that ride ended on Tuesday afternoon as the home team went down 9-4 to Kings Academy. The Lions used fundamentals and the long ball to propel them to victory.

The first two innings went smoothly for Crusaders starting pitcher Billy Atkins. The Coral Springs ace was matched, however, by Kings Academy starter Mark Babrick. With zeroes on the board through the first two innings for both teams, it looked as though a pitcher’s duel was in the cards.

But in the third, the Lions broke through against Atkins. After a lead-off single, Ryan Boyle reached on a bunt. Mark Zippin then drove a double to deep left-center filed, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead. A ground out by John Carpenter drove in Boyle with the second run of the inning, and clean-up hitter Kevin Stypulkowski’s double made the score 3-0 at the end of the frame.

Babrick, meanwhile, continued to cruise, working out of a bases loaded jam in the third by striking out Dominic Ferrusi. The Lions starter had helped himself out in the top of the inning by hitting the first of his two home runs on the afternoon.

“I was just focused on my pitching,” said Babrick, when asked about his strong offensive and pitching performance. “I was able to help myself out a little bit with the bat, but the team came out and played great defense, and we were able to get the win.”

The Lions ace needed some help from his friends to keep the lead in the fifth. Coral Springs Christian sent nine batter to the plate in the inning, and scored four runs. Derek Barra had an RBI double in the inning, and Kevin Knapp cut the lead to 5-3 with a two-run single. After the Knapp single, Matt Pisciottano was handed the ball out of the bullpen to try and shut down the rally, and the junior responded.

With runners on second and third and no outs, Pisciottano got Ferrusi to ground to third for the first out. After an intentional walk to Jesse Feyers, Nick Lamberti grounded out to third, and Ryan Milner popped to short to end the inning with the score 5-4.

“He’s a bulldog,” said Lions Head Coach Doug Magaw, speaking of relief pitcher Pisciottano. “When he comes in to close games out, he gets on fire like that. He was over here getting himself focused to go in and finish in the last inning.”

Babrick added of Pisciottano, “He locked it down. He came in and threw strikes when I was struggling and he closed it down. He threw the ball well.”

Just as the momentum seemed to shift to the home team, Kings Academy batters ensured in the seventh that there would be no miracle comeback. Babrick’s second homer of the game was followed two batter later by a Jason Defelice blast, putting the Lions up 9-4, which is where the game would end.

“It’s just disappointing that we lose a game not playing our best,” said Crusaders Head Coach Matt Cleveland. “They played better than us today. They made some great plays in the field. When you play in the regionals, you’ve got to play well, and we didn’t play well. We didn’t deserve to win today.”

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