Pope Capitalizes On Heights’ Errors To Pull Away With 10-5 Victory

Olympic Heights’ Casey Furnas (#15) pitched two scoreless innings in the Lions’ 10-5 loss to Pope John Paul II.

When hitters are aggressive in their approach and runners test the opposition’s defense, good things will usually happen.

On Tuesday night, the Pope John Paul II Eagles used that exact approach, forcing host Olympic Heights into numerous errors as they cruised to a 10-5 victory in the season opener for both squads.

“It feels real good for us to start with a win,” Pope coach Pete Graffeo said. “A win is a win, but we have lots of mistakes to correct.”

The Eagles (1-0) managed baserunners in every inning, and once they got on base, they did every bit they could to disrupt Olympic Heights’ defensive unit. They tallied four stolen bases but also continually pushed their limits with long leads that tested the Lions’ pitchers.

“We have a lot of team speed, and we work on our baserunning a lot,” Graffeo said. “We work on what we excel at.”

After notching an early lead in top of the first inning, the Eagles built an insurmountable lead with a six-run second inning in which Olympic Heights recorded four errors to extend the inning. Freshman starting pitcher Josh Parker had an RBI single and fellow freshman Stephen Gogreve recorded an RBI triple for the team’s only two hits during the frame.

Pope John Paul II’s Nicholas Epae warms up before the game.

Parker left after only two innings of work and Pope worked in senior Anthony Pianta for two innings, earning him his first victory of the season. Freshman Alexander Bialakis also tossed a frame before senior Alex Sadusky came in to finish it off.

The Lions (0-1) swung the momentum and got back in the game with a three-run fifth inning that was started by a deep shot from senior catcher David Berger that went for a double. Sophomore Casey Furnas followed with an infield hit, and Berger managed to beat out the throw when the fielder opted to try to make the out at third. Sophomore Eli Weldy drew a walk to load the bases, and junior Sean McClaskie followed with a free pass that brought in Berger. Junior John Ricca then came up with Olympic Heights’ biggest hit of the evening when he sent a liner up the middle and managed to outrun the throw to first base on the second-half of the Eagles’ double-play attempt, sending two more Lions across the plate.

But in came Sadusky to end the threat with two scoreless innings in which he notched three strikeouts and allowed only a single to Berger, who was 2-for-3 with two runs.

Olympic Heights coach Brian Domenico works signs with his players.

“That was big for us. Alex did some great pitching, he threw strikes and his curve was really working,” Graffeo said.

Sadusky is not normally the team’s closer, but on this night it just worked out that way.

“You never know when your number is going to be called,” Graffeo said.

The Eagles opened with an early 2-0 lead after senior Robert Gerdung tripled to drive in Parker, and Gerdung then came in on a wild pitch.

The Lions got on the board in the third inning after reliever Sal Beltran worked their first scoreless frame against the feisty Eagles lineup in the top of the inning. Senior starting pitcher Mike Mastromarino singled, then stole second and advanced to third base on a passed ball. Berger then drew a walk and with Weldy at the plate, the two baserunners executed a perfect double steal that plated Mastromarino. Weldy nailed a sharp liner to third that brought in Berger and gave the Lions some momentum.

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