Pope John Paul II Edges Summit To Earn Postseason Return

Alex Bialakis was in dominant form Tuesday.

When Pope John Paul II ace Josh Parker went down for the season with an ankle injury last week, Alex Bialakis knew he would be throwing the first pitch in Tuesday night’s 3A-13 semifinal against Summit Christian.

Bialakis’ magnificent complete-game effort that featured 15 strikeouts and just four hits allowed powered the Eagles to a 3-2 win over the Saints, giving the school its first postseason appearance since 2008 and a spot in Thursday’s district championship against American Heritage.

“He’s a horse,” Pope manager Pete Graffeo said of Bialakis. “I didn’t want him to throw as many as he did, but he did a great job. It was outstanding.“

Bialakis envisioned the tough game before him.

“I knew I was going to grind the whole way,” Bialakis said. “After the first inning, I found the zone and worked from there, tried to pace myself as much as I can.”

Bialakis allowed two runs on three hits with a couple of walks mixed in. The first Saints’ run scored when third baseman Johnny Sheridan seemed to see a ball off the bat slightly late. Sheridan would make amends later, however.

Pope’s Nick Transleau was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The second run crossed on a bases-loaded walk to Summit catcher Damian Haser, giving the Saints twice as many runs as they had combined in the two regular-season meetings with the Eagles.

Pope John Paul (15-11, 2-2) hit right back in the bottom of the first however, when a Zander Retamar RBI single drove in Stephen Gogreve.

Then in the second, Bialakis’ teammates gave him a lead he didn’t relinquish when Nick Transleau cracked a two-run double to deep left-center field, scoring Chris Graffeo and Evan Schaffner.

Saints starter Zach Lawrence settled down after that and pitched pretty well in his own right, allowing three runs on five hits over five innings.

When Jess Barton led off the sixth for Summit (10-15, 0-4) with a triple, it looked like Lawrence might get off the hook.

The Eagles mob Alex Bialakis after their win.

He had a chance to help himself as the next batter but struck out, and then came the most critical single play of the game.

Pinch hitter Petru De La Garza was summoned to lay down a squeeze bunt, and he did so, dropping a decent effort down the third-base line. Sheridan came charging in, flipped the ball superbly with his glove to Retamar, who applied the tag on a sliding Barton.

Summit manager John Drouin disagreed with the call vehemently and let the umpire know it, but the call stood, and when next batter Joe Hewitt popped up to Bialakis, you just had a feeling this was going to be the right-hander’s night.

In the seventh, Bialakis was visually tiring as he gave up a pair of walks to open the inning, promoting Graffeo to get his bullpen going for the first time in the game. A meeting ensued.

“He would have had to drag me out with a tow truck to get me off the mound,” Bialakis said.

The move not to make a move proved to be the right one as Bialakis struck out three straight to get to 15 and end his outing.

He will now take a well-earned rest and watch on Thursday as his teammates try to bring home the school’s first district title since 2005.

“I’ll be cheering my head off,” said Bialakis. “We have nothing to lose now, and this game is almost like a bonus, but obviously we want to win that game and be district champs.”

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