Cardinal Newman Wins Big Over St. Andrews in 4A-12 Match-up

Crusaders catalysts Kyle Cunningham in the foreground and Zach Barrett in the background, with Anthony Cirillo at bat for St. Andrews.

St. Andrew’s beat Cardinal Newman the first time the teams matched up March 16, but Wednesday night, the Crusaders responded in dramatic fashion with a 12-2 win at home.

If the season ended today, the District 4A-12 teams would be slated to face one another in the district playoffs and the momentum would lay squarely in the hands of the Crusaders.

St. Andrews was first to strike Wednesday as senior leadoff man Danny Young singled to left to start the game, and two batters later, Ronnie Rocca drove in Young from third base. A good throw from Newman center fielder Micheal Roca prevented a second run from scoring on the play.

St. Andrews took its 1-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning when Cardinal Newman first baseman Zach Barrett hit a game-tying solo home run to left field.

The Scots responded with a run in the third. After the first two batters reached base on balls, a bunt single loaded the bases with none out. Justin Valente’s fly out to center field resulted in a double play when Collin Valente was caught heading for home during a run-down. Young advanced to third on the play and scored on a passed ball with two outs to make it 2-1.

Back at the top of the order, the Crusaders put together an inning that broke open the game. Daniel Cole led off with a single before junior catcher Kyle Cunningham busted a two-run home run over the left-field wall. A double by Bruce Steel, an infield single from Robbie Hoyt and two St. Andrews errors resulted in three more runs for Cardinal Newman in the bottom of the third.

The Crusaders added to their 5-2 lead with five more runs in the fourth, which featured a two-run double by Steel.

Cunningham’s third run of the night in the fifth inning gave Cardinal Newman the victory on the strength of the Crusaders’ 12 runs.

“It’s really important to get momentum going [for the postseason],” Cunningham said. “We lost to St. Andrews earlier in the year, but if we play together as a team, we can definitely beat them.”

Cardinal Newman coach Daniel Prieto also believes it is important for his young team to build momentum:

“This is a team we will most likely face first round of districts a week and a half from now,” Prieto said. “A win like this against them is really nice. We strung some good at-bats together and had a couple big innings. That’s always nice to have.”

Dylan Gordon earned the win for Cardinal Newman as he went all five innings, allowing just two earned runs on four hits while striking out four. Cunningham reached base four times, drove in two and scored three runs in the victory. Barrett and Steel were also 2-for-3 for the Crusaders.

St. Andrews starter David Lundberg gets the loss as the Scots had an off night on the mound following Danny Young’s no-hitter on Tuesday night. Young reached base all three times he came to the plate and scored two runs, while Ricci Rocca also chipped in with two singles and a walk.

“We’re a different team without Danny on the mound. We haven’t played a game like this all year,” St. Andrews coach George Sands said. “We’ve never made this many errors.”

St. Andrews will look to rebound from the subpar defensive effort against American Heritage on Monday. Meanwhile, Cardinal Newman will have nearly a week before facing off with the Benjamin School.

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