Kelchner pitches Carroll past LaSalle
RADNOR » Archbishop Carroll and La Salle College High School combined for one hit through the first five innings Monday afternoon.
Then the offenses woke up.
Carroll’s five-run sixthinning proved to be enough to overcome La Salle in a 5-4 Philadelphia Catholic League win at Carroll.
“This win is huge for us,” the Patriots’ Tyler Kehoe said. “Losing that game would hurt us big time. With that win, it helps us out a lot. It was a great team effort. I can’t preach about my team enough. They’re a great group of guys. It was a team effort and winning this game puts us in a really good spot going forward.”
The Patriots went into the bottom of the sixth inning with no hits and trailing 2-0. Cole Chesnet got the first hit of the day on an infield popup that fell between La Salle’s first baseman, second baseman and catcher. Jake Kelchner got hit by a pitch and the Explorers pitcher Joe Miller was taken out of the game, nearing the 100-pitch limit.
Carroll’s Chris Grill greeted La Salle pitcher Dan Karrash with an RBI double cut the Patriots’ deficit in half, 2-1.
Two outs were sandwiched around a Trent Pierce walk before Patrick Marley worked another walk to score a run and tie the game at two.
That flipped the lineup over and put leadoff man Kehoe at the plate. Kehoe hit a grounder up the middle and La Salle second baseman Matt Acker made a diving play to knock it down. He tried to get the force out at second but couldn’t, and two runs scored to make it 4-2 Patriots.
“I’ve played at the highest level of baseball my whole life,” Kehoe said. “Stepping up in a big spot like that is what I wanted and for my team I don’t think there’s anybody else that was better at the plate at that moment. I’m glad that we got that winning run in. There’s no better feeling.”
Max Hitman followed with an RBI single to make it 5-2.
“We caught a tough break coming out,” La Salle coach Kyle Werman said. “You’re trying to get a nice quick inning after you score. We miscommunicate — don’t catch a popup. Miller at 90-plus loses the zone — he put runners on. We had a chance to get out of it. Sometimes you have to tip your cap. (Carroll) found a way to compete, took some good at-bats and got a couple clutch hits to open it up.”
Kehoe has been a closer all season for Carroll. In this game he entered in the sixth inning to stop the bleeding and finished the seventh to earn the win, but not without a little sweat.
La Salle’s Eric Marasheski hit a two-out, two-run double to make it 5-4 and Andrew Cossetti was intentionally walked to put the go-ahead run on first. Kehoe got Anthony Cossetti to hit a grounder up the middle, where the shortstop fielded it and stepped on the bag to secure the win.
“I go up there, I throw my game and in the end if they hit it, they hit it,” Kehoe said. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I just make my pitches and hope it goes my way. Today it went my way. It all worked out.”
“I was really proud of our guys after giving up five and giving up the lead there to find a way to compete,” Werman said. “We got our best guys to the plate with a chance to put one swing on it to tie it up or take the lead. I told my guys this is the kind of ballgame if you’re looking to win a league title or make a run in the state playoffs at some point — these are games you have to win.”
Jack Ruch got the scoring started for La Salle in the sixth. He hit a one-out single and — after drawing a number of pickoff throws — advanced to second when one of the attempts was wide. He got to third on a wild pitch and scored when Marasheski hit a grounder to third.
Marasheski stole second and got to third when the throw sailed into centerfield. He scored on an Andrew Cossetti sacrifice fly.
The two-run sixth inning came immediately after La Salle’s Miller got out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the fifth inning.
Neither starting pitcher earned a decision.
Carroll’s Jake Kelchner struck out 12 batters to no walks over 5⅔ innings. He allowed two runs on three hits.
La Salle’s Miller went six innings, surrendering two runs on one hit.