Calvary Christian Outmuscled Against Park Vista

A six-run first inning propelled Park Vista to a 10-4 victory over Calvary Christian on Thursday night as each team wrapped up its participation in the HSBN Preseason Challenge.

The win was slightly overshadowed by a serious injury to Cobras junior starting catcher Tyler Barre, who sustained a nasty arm injury when he was accidentally struck by a teammate swinging a bat near the dugout. The limb wasn’t broken, but Barre will see an orthopedic doctor to find out the full extent of the damage.

“We’re kind of banged up right now,” said winning manager Larry Greenstein. “It’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to find guys that will give us a chance to win. We had some breaks tonight and we took advantage of it.”

After being shut out 10-0 by Flanagan on Tuesday, Park Vista was in no mood to be blanked again in this one and came out of the gates in a hurry with a monster opening inning.

The first seven batters reached base off Eagles starter Andrew Gottfried, with six of them coming around to score as the Cobras just seemed to get every bounce and their hits found every gap.

Calvary responded nicely in the bottom of the first with three runs of their own off sophomore righty Austin Smith, who was making his first varsity start. Smith settled down after that though, allowing only that initial run damage and five hits over three innings.

Gottfried, meanwhile, would be chased after giving up two more runs in the second inning, and the Cobras extended their lead to 10-3 with a pair of runs in the fifth.

Park Vista relievers Alex Levy and Joey Calamita were almost as effective as their team’s offense, as they held the Eagles to only one run on three hits over the final four innings.

At the plate, sophomore first baseman Joey Genord had a pair of hits and a game-high three runs, while Matthew Mika, Trey Amburgey, Branden Cook and Smith also had two hits apiece.

“It was good to see guys being aggressive and taking good swings early in the count, especially after the other night,” Greenstein said.

For the Eagles, the only real positive on the evening came via first baseman Nico Lares, who went 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Manager Gregg Mucerino’s long post-game chat with his team and comments showed his disappointment in the evening’s proceedings.

“We have to get some things figured out,” Mucerino said. “We had some tough luck tonight, but we’re not in the right place mentally. We have a long way to go, though.”

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