Petri fans 13 in Gibbons’ victory
FORT LAUDERDALE — Senior left-hander Kyle Petri struck out a careerhigh 13 batters in a complete-game effort, and Cardinal Gibbons moved into sole possession of first place in competitive District 14-5A with a 2-1 win over North Broward Prep at home on Wednesday afternoon.
The Chiefs (11-2, 5-2) are now half a game ahead of Pompano Beach (4-2 in the district), which reached states last year.
Petri gave up one run on three hits. He was perfect the first time through the order with eight strikeouts against the first nine batters he faced.
“I was feeling great [pregame in the bullpen],” said Petri, a University of Chicago signee. “We just kept throwing fastballs inside, and we did well.”
Added coach Jason Hamilton: “Today was all about him. I know our [pitching] coach did a nice job calling pitches for him and so on... To strike out 13 of those batters — that’s a good-hitting team right there with some really big-time players.”
Right fielder Jarrett Hall first put the Chiefs on the board with a base hit to leftcenter in the first inning that brought home Joe Cerquozzi, 2-for-4.
Gibbons added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Cerquozzi drove in Mike Sarakinis, who doubled, with a two-out base hit.
North Broward (10-6, 3-3) got that run back in the fifth when junior second baseman Chase McBean hit an opposite-field home run to the short porch down the right-field line.
Petri let a runner get on with one out in the sixth and seventh innings but quickly retired the next two batters who went each time, finishing it off by getting McBean to foul out to first.
Eagles starter Anthony Tomczak went four innings, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out six.
The pair of runs were enough for Gibbons despite stranding 11 runners on base, leaving the bases loaded in the third and sixth innings.
“It was encouraging that we had a lot of opportunities to get something done, but we didn’t get those timely hits,” Hamilton said. “In a district game, it doesn’t matter if it’s a 2-1 win or a 10-1 win. A district win.”
The Chiefs already played Pompano once, on March 2, and lost 2-1. They meet again on April 10, and face the Eagles once more on the road on April 19. District 14-5A is tough top to bottom as the three lower teams — Coral Springs Charter, Somerset Academy and Pine Crest — have all dealt at least one loss to a team in the top half. win
dfurones@ sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_ is district