Calvert Hall baseball beats Spalding, 3-1, to force decisive Game 3 in MIAA A championship series
Luke Kreiner, Nathan Rodriguez and Ryder Sowa are all Calvert Hall underclassmen.
With their baseball season on the line, trailing 1-0 in the best-of-three MIAA A Conference championship series, the trio played beyond their years to keep the second-ranked Cardinals alive.
Kreiner hit a key second-inning triple to score Calvert Hall’s first run, and pitchers Rodriguez and Sowa made sure the Cardinals never trailed in a 3-1 win over top-ranked Archbishop Spalding and Maryland-bound senior pitcher Jake Yeager in Game 2 on Sunday.
The win forces a decisive Game 3, which will also be played at Joe Cannon Stadium on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
“We expected to be here,” Calvert Hall coach Brooks Kerr said. “This is not a big surprise for us. These guys worked very hard to get here. If you want to be the best, you’re going to have to beat the best.”
The Cardinals (19-10) kept the pressure on Yeager and the Cavaliers (27-5) all day. After a scoreless first, Calvert Hall got on the board in the bottom of the second. Brayden Wolf reached first base on a throwing error, and Yeager retired Clark Mileto on a popup for the first out. Next up was Kreiner, who pulverized a pitch off the right-field wall for an RBI triple and a 1-0 lead.
“I saw it right out of his hand, middle-in, and I smoked it,” Kreiner said. “Putting the first run on the board like that against a big-time pitcher like that means a lot to our team.”
It certainly seemed to for Rodriguez. The junior gave up a single to Sam Houchens to start the top of the third but retired Braedan Martin and Cruz Luna on popups and Brennan Inscoe on a groundout to end the inning.
The Cardinals added to their lead in the bottom of the third. Calvert Hall was the beneficiary of a throwing error that put Will Haacke on second with no outs. A single by the next hitter, Michael Copenspire, scored Haacke for a 2-0 lead. A single by Travis Peitz and a hit-by-pitch for Thomas Pilarski loaded the bases with two outs. Kriener, the next batter, walked to plate the third run.
Spalding looked as if it would crack the scoreboard in the next half-inning when Theo Loughlin walked to begin the frame and Drew Emrich singled. But Rodriguez regained his form, striking out two and getting a popup to end the inning.
At the start of the sixth, Kerr elected to give the ball to Sowa, a freshman. He loaded the bases with one out but only gave up one run when a sacrifice fly by Houchens scored Emrich to cut the lead to 3-1.
Sowa had a much easier time in the seventh, when he got Luna to popout and struck out Inscoe and Loughlin to end the game.
Kerr said he had no trepidation about putting Sowa into a must-win game with the season on the line.
“He’s been good for us all year,” Kerr said. “He’s been on the shelf for us for the last couple of weeks. We were careful with him. He said he was ready, and the trainer said he was ready. He was cool as a cucumber.”
Spalding coach Joe Palumbo was not very pleased with the effort of his team, especially at the plate.
“We didn’t come to play today, which is mind-boggling,” Palumbo said. “We didn’t compete in the box or in the field. Championships are not given to you. You have to go out and earn them. We played awful today and they took advantage of that.”
MIAA A Conference championship, Game 2
AS 000 001 0 — 1 6 2
CH 012 000 x — 3 6 1
WP — Rodriguez
LP — Yeager
3B: CH — Kreiner