Gottfried Goes Distance As Calvary Tops University

Primarily throwing heat that proved to be too hot even for an offense named after a ball of hot plasma that burns at 27 million degrees, Calvary Christian’s Andrew Gottfried went the distance Tuesday. Gottfried totaled seven strikeouts along the way and led the Eagles to their fourth victory in their past five games, this time with a 4-2 decision over 4A-14 rival University School.

With his fastball sitting in the high 80’s all day long, Gottfried utilized his secondary pitches well, keeping the Suns off balance with a spectacular mix of speeds. His low-70’s curveball was buckling the knees of University School hitters, and his filthy, diving changeup that dropped off the table just a few feet before reaching his catcher had opposing hitters contributing to the light afternoon breeze. The senior pounded the zone, as 63 of his 98 pitches went for strikes.

Gottfried also flashed a great pickoff move all game long, nearly catching runners leaning on a multitude of occasions. The move finally did pay off in the fifth inning when he caught a runner off of second, ending an inning and a scoring threat.

“He’s a warrior and he competes,” Manager Gregg Mucerino said of his starter. “He did a great job today.”

Gottfried got in to the biggest of his few jams of the afternoon in the sixth inning, allowing back-to-back hitters reach via singles, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. However, he was then able to roll a ground ball to shortstop which resulted in a textbook 6-4-3 double play, allowing him to limit the damage to just a single run.

The big double play was just the tip of the iceberg for the Eagles’ defense. They backed Gottfried well all afternoon, keeping balls in front of them, making the right decisions with their throws, and, despite having to battle a setting afternoon sun, made the right reads and ran good routes on fly balls.

Ever the modest kid, Gottfried downplayed his spectacular day and lauded his defense.

“I was just trying to throw strikes,” Gottfried said. “We have a really solid defense. They love when they work, they love getting balls, they love backing their pitcher up. It’s a good team community we have.”

Gottfried’s good afternoon continued at the plate, where he reached base in three of his four plate appearances. After doubling in his first at-bat and being moved to third by a Tommy Taborda walk and a Tommy Orr single, Gottfried scored the Eagles’ first run on a Nick Benevento RBI. He also reached on a fourth-inning single and via a sixth-inning hit by pitch.

“I was trying to get the lowdown on their guy early,” Gottfried said of his approach at the dish. “We faced a really good kid. He’s got a hard fastball and a good breaking ball and he mixes them up well. It’s tough to face those kind of kids but it’s good to see that the team pulled together and got through it.”

In the third, the Eagles executed some good small ball in order to get their second and third runs and take the lead. After Taborda walked to lead off the frame and Orr singled, Colin Majewski laid down a gorgeous sacrifice bunt to put two men in scoring position. Benevento then drove in his second run of the afternoon with a sac fly RBI. With two outs, Brett Lawson had a good at-bat which ended in an RBI single that put the Eagles up by two.

It was an all-around great offensive effort by the Eagles. Seven of their nine starters reached base safely at least once and five reached at least twice. One of those five was Taborda, who had quite the unorthodox day. The third baseman reached in all four of his plate appearances but did not record an official at-bat. On top of his two walks, he was hit by two pitches. The senior made the most of his free passes, getting into scoring position three times and crossing the plate once.

“He’s not afraid to take an hit by pitch,” Mucerino said of Taborda. “Just great ABs today for him. He did a lot of little things that helped us.”

Seeing his teammate on base by any means necessary came as no surprise to Orr.

“That’s the way Tommy is,” Orr said. “He just finds ways to get on.”

As for Orr himself, he was arguably the Eagles’ best hitter of the game, contributing something positive in each of his four chances. He singled twice, scored a run and knocked in two, the second coming in an at-bat in which he didn’t try to do too much and hit a well-placed ball to his right with two men in scoring position. It resulted in a fielder’s choice RBI. Orr also laid down a gorgeous sixth-inning sacrifice bunt, putting two men in scoring position with only one out.

“I saw the ball well,” Orr said. “They threw me a couple first-pitch fastballs and I was able to drive them.”

For the Suns and Manager Dan Rovetto, it was a bad case of deja vu. For a second straight game, they played Eagles, they faced a dominant Eagles’ starting pitcher, they were unable to capitalize on run scoring opportunities, and they fell by a score of 4-2.

The scoring opportunities came early and often, as the Suns were able to put a runner on base in all but one inning. However, only two of them resulted in runs.

“The two out-hit eluded us again,” Rovetto said. “It’s been the story of the last week for us. That’s something we have to continue to work on.”

Again, like their last game, one of the stars at the plate for the Suns was Evan Klugerman. The senior had something to do with both of his team’s scoring plays. In the first inning, after a lead-off walk by Buddy Hayward, a great sacrifice bunt by Sammy Guillorme, and a wild pitch, Klugerman put the Suns ahead with an RBI single. In the sixth, he led the inning off with another single, got to second on a Kyle Oren single, and came in to score on a Julian Cabrera RBI.

“Klug’s been coming around,” Rovetto said of his second baseman. “He’s really focusing on his approach and staying in the middle of the field. He’s been driving the baseball well for us lately. I’m really proud of the progress he’s made as an overall hitter.”

Despite the loss and all of the familiarities that surrounded it compared to their last game, Rovetto saw improvement in his team and was much more pleased with the effort.

“We eliminated the big inning, which is what really kept us in the game,” Rovetto said “Overall, we have a few things to clean up still. In this district any game is going to be a hard-fought game. That’s two back-to-back games by a score of 4-2 that could have really gone either way. But I thought we played a quality baseball game.”

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