GRAY BEES DROP FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON
May 12, 2009
The St. Benedict's baseball team looked primed to wrap up its season on a winning note.
The Gray Bees, however, saw a well-pitched game by Vinnie Morgan go for naught when the error bug - a season-long problem - snuck up and reared its ugly head again during a heartbreaking, 5-4, setback on the road against Caldwell.
Morgan, a senior southpaw, used an array of off-speed pitches to keep the Caldwell batters fooled throughout. Morgan even had a perfect game going through four innings, inducing six ground ball outs and six fly outs during that stretch as the defense played flawlessly.
But Morgan started his own undoing in the fifth with the Grays Bees holding what look like a comfortable 4-0 lead. He walked the first two batters, who eventually came around to score, the second on the first of two crucial errors by the Gray Bees.
The final error occurred in a three-run seventh for Caldwell. After closing the gap to 4-3 on an RBI double, a Caldwell batter then tripled in the tying run and scored on a throwing miscue during the same play to give his team the victory.
"Errors have haunted us all season and this time it cost us in dramatic fashion," said St. Benedict's coach Justin Ross. "We played a great game for four innings and were in it until the end and that's all you can ask for. The kids really had fun in this game."
The Gray Bees (2-8) got a fantastic effort from its seniors - Morgan, Rich Fagan, Steve Downar and Angelo Sanchez. Morgan, aside from his commendable job on the mound, went 2-for-4 at the plate, scored a run and also had an RBI.
Fagan, who's headed to Rowan University, nearly hit for the cycle - falling a home run short. He hit safely in all four trips to the plate, belting a pair of singles, a double and a triple with two RBI.
Downar went 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Sanchez had five assists and one put out at shortstop.
BASEBALL TEAM SPLITS A PAIR OF GAMES IN ITS LATEST OUTINGS
Ends four-game slide against Bloomfield Tech
April 27, 2009
The Gray Bees baseball team got a huge confidence booster with a victory against Bloomfield Tech last Thursday.
Coach Justin Ross' club posted a 6-3 verdict over Bloomfield Tech at West Side Park behind the solid pitching of Rich Fagan and hitting of Angelo Sanchez and Vin Morgan.
Fagan struck-out seven and scattered five hits to give St. Benedict's its second victory in six outings.
Sanchez had two RBI and Morgan scored twice to pace the Gray Bees' attack. Pierce Fernandez also added an RBI single in the game.
"That was a much needed win and lifted our spirits after struggling for a few games against some tough teams," said Ross of his club's four-game losing streak after a season-opening victory over East Side.
The following day, against Montclair Kimberley in East Hanover, the Gray Bees looked poised to capture its second straight victory when it broke out of the gate scoring three runs in the top half of the first.
Fernandez, the starting second baseman for the third time this season, gave St. Benedict's a three-run cushion in their first at bat by lofting a base-clearing, looping single wit the bases filled. But that's all the scoring the Gray Bees could muster against a solid MKA squad, which scored nine unanswered runs to post a 9-3 victory.
Anthony Maisonave and Chris Cortes combined for 7 hits and 9 RBI when St. Benedict's posted a season-ending, 20-9, victory over Gill St. Bernard's on the road in Gladstone.