Marchese Leads St. Thomas To Win Over Orangewood

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This win was for Grammy Rita.

St. Thomas Aquinas senior Nick Marchese brought a heavy heart to Ed Waters Field Tuesday night, following the recent passing of his grandmother, Rita. As most any ball player would, the first baseman paid tribute to his departed loved one the best way he knows how. Marchese had a big day at the plate to supply the host Raiders with the offensive spark it needed to earn a big 5-1 victory over visiting powerhouse Orangewood Christian.

Marchese reached base three times, starting with a solid double for his team’s first hit of the game and ending with a mammoth two-run home run that put the Raiders well in control. He also walked and scored on an RBI from Andrew Garcia in his other trip to the plate.

“It was a pretty emotional game for me because I just came from my grandma’s funeral today at two o’clock. I got here and I was really upset, but all these guys just fired me up. They are just awesome there,” Marchese said.

The Raiders (16-3) had a slim lead in a tight ball game heading into the bottom of the fifth. The club then manufactured some runs when Juwuan Harris walked and stole his way all the way around the bases to include a rare theft of home plate. Gary Mattis drew a walk to follow and also stole second, before advancing to third base on a fly out to right field off the bat of Alex Dickinson.

Marchese came to the plate and jumped on the first pitch he saw, driving it high and deep over the right field fence. The homer provided a huge emotional boost for Marchese and his teammates, while also putting the Raiders up 5-0 with only six outs left to record for the win.

“My first at bat I hit a curveball for a double down the line, and, as a pitcher, when someone hits my curveball I am going to throw him fastballs and try and locate it. So I saw that pitch up and just jumped on it,” said Marchese. “When I am not pitching I take the infield more seriously; I take more groundballs and I take more hacks in the cage. Obviously, today it paid off for me.”

Leading up to the game, Marchese had assured Raiders Manager Troy Cameron that he wanted to play. When he arrived to the field Tuesday, Cameron checked again to make sure that was still the case. Cameron understood it is a lot to deal with, and especially for a high school kid going through that.

“He assured me he wanted to play, and the rest took care of itself,” said Cameron. “He came up his first at bat and hit a line-drive double to right field. He came up later with a guy on third base, and with less than two outs he was looking for a pop fly to try and get a sacrifice fly and drive the guy in. He squared it up, and for him to barrel it up off a kid who was throwing as well as that kid was throwing was nice. Thankfully he did that for us; but more so, for him to have the night that he had was special.”

With two tough pitchers on the mound in Raiders starter Jordan Spicer and Rams lefty ace Eric Keating, early on it seemed as though one run might have been the difference. Harris got St. Thomas on the board in the third with an RBI single that drove in Cameron Krzeminski for a 1-0 lead. The way Spicer was throwing, it seemed as though that slim margin could be enough.

Spicer picked up the win with six shutout innings. The right-hander struck out five, while allowing just one hit and one walk. Wes Spano came on for the seventh, recording a pair of strikeouts that included fanning the final batter of the contest.

“We faced a good arm tonight, and even the lefty that came in after him,” said Rams Manager Scott Hilinski. “We’ve got some young guys in the lineup, an eighth-grader and some freshmen and sophomores. But tonight we have to tip our cap to them for how they pitched against us.”

The Rams got a leadoff single from senior Jackson Leuck to start the game, but Spicer settled in quickly from there. The senior retired 13 in a row to follow, and, after Keating walked and gave way to courtesy-runner Zach Sutter in the fifth, his defense picked him up with a textbook 4-6-3 double play that quelled that threat.

“He only gave up one hit and it turned out to be the first batter of the game,” Cameron said. “Jackson Leuck is a big-time player who is going to Florida State if he doesn’t get drafted high enough to take him away from that. We knew he was a good bat and somebody we had to be careful with. He led off the top of the first with a base hit, but then Jordan didn’t give up another hit, and he only had one walk. He certainly was on his ‘A’ game tonight.”

Orangewood Christian (8-11) broke up the shutout with an unearned run in the seventh. Micheal Spears reached on an error leading off the frame, and Vinny Catanza worked a walk to follow. A throwing error advanced both runners, which allowed Spears to then come home on an RBI infield groundout from Sam Lanier.

The Rams traveled down this week from their hometown in Orlando looking for some good competition to help prepare them for the approaching district playoffs. While the results have not been in their favor following losses to the Raiders and also Coral Springs Charter, the effort has been excellent and the team has gained some valuable experience against quality opponents.

“We take this trip every other year for Spring Training, and it does help prepare us,” Hilinski said. “We’re good friends with a lot of their coaches, and this is a good experience for us. We play in a tough district back home, and we’re excited to take this experience and go back home and try to get back into the playoffs.”

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