Cardinal Newman Gets A Late Break To Edge Seminole Ridge 6-5

Seminole Ridge senior Tyler Glover awaits a pitch from Anthony Zaleski

Cardinal Newman just needed that one break to go its way.

Early on, Seminole Ridge’s speedy outfielders denied nearly every Crusaders hit from touching the grass.

Sophomore Daniel Cole watched as his potential two-run hit died in the glove of Hawks senior Courtney King in deep center field. Later, Anthony Zaleski hit a shot to the gap in left-center that was run down in the last second by Seminole Ridge sophomore Alex Aristy.

But in the fifth inning, Newman finally caught a break.

After Cole reached on a fielding error, two more blunders would follow and the floodgates opened as the Crusaders overcame a three-run deficit late to edge past Seminole Ridge 6-5 in the Forest Hill City Tournament on Wednesday.

“Our guys did a good job of battling after being down early in the game and we just needed that little break,” Newman coach Daniel Prieto said. “It was a little frustrating that we couldn’t take advantage of some situations early, but they’re a very good defensive team and they made the plays. But when they slipped up in that one inning we took advantage.”

In that fateful fifth inning, with Newman (2-0) trailing 4-1, the Hawks second fielding error in three plays gave the Crusaders new life, scoring Cole to cut the lead to two. After junior Michael Roca drew a bases loaded walk on four pitches, Bruce Steel scored to tie the game at four on a throwing error that would have ended the inning. Back-to-back RBI singles by Tyler Krull and pinch hitter Rudy Viton gave Newman its first lead.

With the Crusaders leading by two, Prieto called upon freshman pitcher Tyler Krull to close the door over the final two innings, but the Hawks (1-1) weren’t going to make it easy on him.

A Tyler Beck two-out single in the sixth brought the go-ahead run to the plate in leadoff batter Cruz Alcazar, but Krull kept his composure on the mound and got the junior to strike out swinging.

An RBI single in the top of the seventh by Tyler Glover cut Newman’s lead to one, but once again the freshman didn’t back down. Krull struck out Mark Kuhner to end the game.

“[Krull’s] a freshman, but he really stepped up huge for us,” Prieto said. “It was his first outing in a regular season game for us and the pressure was on him and he pulled through.

“He always wants the ball. That was a tough spot I put him in, and it’ll happen again, and I know he’ll come through again,” Prieto said.

Cole led the way for the Crusaders with a double and two runs, while Steel added two stolen bases and a run scored.

Glover had two RBI singles for the Hawks and Alcazar finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run and a stolen base in the loss.

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