Calvary Christian Advances Past Berean in 4Him Classic

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The Calvary Christian Eagles used a big second inning and solid pitching by junior Maximiliano Ramirez to ease past the Berean Christian Bulldogs 13-1 on Monday in the 4Him Classic.

Calvary (10-5) sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the second inning, combining timely hitting, aggressive baserunning and a couple of miscues by the Berean Bulldogs infield. Calvary Christian cruised from there.

Senior third baseman Winn Allen had two hits, two runs and an RBI in the big inning. Max Rozenblum hit a two-run double to right field, and Tommy Taborda cracked a long triple to deep right field for an RBI. Taborda also singled.

When the dust settled, Ramirez was handed the nine-run lead and he knew what to do with it.

“This was my first start of the year,” Ramirez said. “I have been coming out of the bullpen, but today I was ready to pitch. We have such a good team, and they played very well today. That’s what we are all about, playing as a team. Everything is about the team.”

Ramirez collected eight strikeouts while walking three in his four innings. Freshman Tim Watkins came in for relief in the fifth inning and set the Bulldogs down in order. The Eagle fielders were outstanding as there was rarely any trouble.

For Berean Christian, pitcher DJ Lawler displayed some crafty stuff. The left-handed pitcher seemed to have the Eagles off balanced in the first inning, but the big Calvary Christian bats caught up to him in the second. Lawler came back after the long second inning and worked his way through the third inning by surrendering only one run.

“We are a small school. We don’t have the depth of some of the teams we play, especially today, but this is good exposure,” Manager Dave Lawler said. “I look at the team we played today, and this is where we want to go. I am proud of our effort today, we had some players playing out of position, but we battled today and I’m proud.”

Berean Christian (3-5) was one of the teams from the area invited to the 4Him Classic, which concludes with the championship Thursday evening.

“We wanted a way we could honor our Lord by having a tournament in his honor,” Eagles Manager Gregg Mucerino said. “We reached out to other Christian schools, and it has grown pretty well. We have some folks asking us about the tourney, so it is doing well.”

The tournament is a short break for both teams as they head back to district play at the beginning of next week.

“We are doing well in the district,” Lane stated said. “This tournament is great to keep us thinking baseball, but come next week, we will be focused on our district rivals and ready to compete. We have played well as a team, and with our senior leadership, we expected to do better than last year and it is coming to pass.”

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