Pope Picks Off Second District Opponent In A Row

Johnny Sheridan struck out four and allowed just one hit in five innings pitched.

Photo Gallery

Last season, the Pope John Paul II Eagles went on a tear during the playoffs to claim their second district 4A-13 crown in a row. Meanwhile, the St. Andrew’s Scots finished in last place with 4-12 mark. The Eagles swept the Scots in the regular season by a combined score of 26-8 and then beat them again in the playoffs, 8-0.

The two met for the first time in 2015 at St. Andrew’s on Friday afternoon for HSBN’s Palm Beach Game of the Week and if history was any indicator, the game would be a lopsided affair. For a half an inning that indeed looked to be the case. After a big first inning where the Eagles batted around and scored five runs, two of them unearned, it seemed as though the game might get out of hand.

The Scots and their starting pitcher, Richie Rocca, buckled down and battled back though, scoring two runs of their own in the bottom of the first and preventing Pope from scoring again until the seventh inning. They eventually fell to the Eagles by a final score of 6-2, but the game was ultimately closer than that score would suggest.

“I knew Billy Horn has a young team but I know he’s a good coach,” said Eagles’ Manager Peter Graffeo. “He’s got a good staff with him so I knew his team would be ready to play and would minimize mistakes. He did a good job with them.”

The afternoon’s festivities were kicked off by Megan Moroney, a 13-time state high school swimming champion from St Andrew’s, who tossed out the honorary first pitch to Scots’ catcher Cam Hodgeman.

After that, Rocca took to the hill and got himself into immediate trouble by issuing a lead-off walk to Dominic Baldino. Baldino promptly stole second and then opened up the scoring when Christopher Graffeo drove him in with an RBI single.

“We just wanted to get an early lead,” said Christopher Graffeo. “We saw a lot of pitches, had good at-bats, scored some runs.”

Another base hit and free pass in the next two at-bats loaded the base for the Eagles with none out. A two-base error then brought two of them around to score, making it 3-0. From there, Rocca became the victim of some bad luck. With runners on second and third, Cale Brader hit a chopper back up the box. Rocca leaped to knock it down, but the ball cleared his glove by mere inches and dribbled into shallow center field for a two-run single.

“It was just nice to get off to a good start, get a two-run lead,” said Brader about his fortunate hit.

Things finally started to go Rocca’s way in the next at-bat, when Christian Falgons ripped a line drive to the hot corner but was robbed of a base hit when Scott Gellman picked it out of the air. After another base hit to Cal Bocchino, two routine ground balls to the shortstop got the Scots’ out of the inning.

Richie Rocca paced the Scots at the plate and also put forth a gutsy effort on the mound.

Rocca immediately went to work at reversing the damage in the top half of the first, beating out a chopper of his own that squeaked past Pope starter Jeff Parker for a lead-off single. It was the first hit of a 3-for-4 performance at the plate for the only senior on the Scots’ roster.

Two batters later, Nick Chiappetta crushed a 2-2 pitch into deep left field. The Eagles’ Anthony Owens gave chase but could not make an over-the-shoulder catch at the fence. The uncertainty of the play forced Rocca to hold at first until the ball landed, robbing Chiappetta of an RBI. But Jordan Spitzberg made up for it in the next at-bat, grounding out to second base to bring Rocca home from third. Gellman then knocked Chiappetta in with a single into right field to close the gap to three runs.

With the score 5-2, the contest turned into a pitchers duel. Parker struck out two for the Eagles in the second frame before giving way to Johnny Sheridan, who fanned four more while finishing out the game, allowing just one more hit along the way.

“I mean, the team had my back on pretty much everything,” said Sheridan. “So that’s the key to success there.”

His first baseman Graffeo came up particularly big for him by recording all three outs in the fourth inning. Christopher got one on a pop-up, another on a soft line drive and then finally on a ground ball that he fielded and took to the bag himself.

Rocca also found his groove in the second. He gave a up a lead-off single, but freshman shortstop Matthew Glenn negated it with a spectacular double play, scooping a soft, sinking liner off the bat of Parker just inches from the ground, tagging second and then firing to first for good measure.

The Eagles were not able to touch Rocca again until the sixth inning, and he gave up just one more base-on-balls the rest of the way.

“Richie did a great job,” raved Scots’ Manager Billy Horn. “He really showed some intestinal fortitude by just going out there and being the leader of this ball club.”

With the game still within reach for St. Andrew’s, the Eagles finally struck again in their half of the seventh. Brader recorded his second hit of the night with two outs to bring up Falgons, who had hit a two-run homer to help lead the team past King’s Academy on Thursday night. This time, the right fielder came up just short, lacing a ball all the way to the left-field fence for an RBI triple.

“I actually did,” answered Flagons, when asked if he thought he had his second home run in as many nights. “I started jogging around second. I thought it hit the back fence.”

The win improves Pope’s record to 4-2 with a perfect 2-0 mark in district play, giving them an early advantage in a highly competitive district.

Christopher Graffeo reached base three times in four at-bats and also drove in the games first run.

“It feels real good,” Manager Graffeo commented. “Like I said, we want to go out, and expect to go out, and win every game. Not to be disrespectful to any team, that’s just how we go out and play. We’re happy with it. We have another tough game ahead of us on Tuesday versus Cardinal Newman so, you know, nothing’s easy.”

As for the Scots’, Horn came into the season wanting to compete right away. But he was also aware that there would be a bit of a learning curve with such a young squad.

“We had them on their heals for a little bit and we came in and we gave them a dog fight and that’s all I ask for,” said the first-year Manager. “All I ask for is our guys to come out and compete.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!