Lake rallies for win over Padua

A doubleheader at Lake Catholic on May 13 matched two Crown Conference teams on hot streaks and peaking at the right time in Padua and the host Cougars.

In the opener, the Cougars’ experience in rallying for come from behind wins paid off. Lake Catholic had mustered just three hits through four innings and trailed, 4-1, but put up a four-spot in the fifth inning to prevail, 5-4. Gage Faraguna came on in relief of starter Matt Tierno in the fourth inning and kept the Bruins scoreless on two hits and a walk while striking out five the rest of the way.

The sun made an appearance in what had been an overcast day in the fifth inning, and Lake Catholic’s bats heated up accordingly.

Faraguna led off the frame with a walk against Padua starter Zach Hofener, who had kept the Cougars off-balance through the fourth.

Four consecutive singles followed, plating two runs and cutting the Lake Catholic

deficit to 4-3, then Zach Madan stepped up to the plate with bases loaded and no outs.

Madan laced a double over the center fielder’s head, bringing in Dylan Wimbs and Patrick Radigan to give Lake Catholic its first lead.

Logan Schnell relieved for Padua, and got the Bruins out of the inning. But after a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth, Faraguna retired six straight over the final two frames to preserve the win.

“I saw the ball a little bit better that at-bat,” said Madan, who also singled in the first. “Got behind, but got it back up to a 3-1 count, then he fed me fastballs and I was able to put it over the center fielder’s head.”

Contact wasn’t a problem for Lake Catholic (156, 2-3 Crown) through the first four innings, but hitting the ball right at the defense was.

But the Cougars had been there before, and keeping up the energy level and solid pitching helped them pull through..

“We came out a little flat, but Matt (Tierno) did a good job keeping us in the game,” Lake Catholic coach Brian Leroy said. “Then Gage did a great job of closing the door and getting outs at the end.

“We were hitting the ball, but we were hitting it right at them. We just had to stay the course and put together good at-bats. We starting finding holes (in the fifth) and driving the ball a little bit, and we had a nice inning.”

Padua fell to 10-13, 0-5 in the Crown. The Bruins had won five of their previous six games, however, beating the likes of St. Ignatius, St. Edward, and Solon during that stretch. Padua carried that momentum into the game with the Cougars.

The Bruins took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on three hits while also taking advantage of two Cougar errors and a balk with the bases loaded.

Dylan Wimbs led off the bottom of the first for Lake Catholic with a single and came around to score after stealing second, taking third on the throw when AJ Trobenter reached on an error.

Padua added a run in the second inning on a RBI double by Lucas Palange, who had two hits. Adam Mindzora also had two hits for the Bruins.

But Trobenter, the Cougars’ catcher, twice threw out would-be base-stealers at third base for the third out of an inning to blunt any further Padua momentum.

“They put a couple good swings on a couple balls, and maybe we weren’t,” Padua coach Ryan McSweeney said of the game’s latter stages. “Other than that, we played pretty clean. It is what is is. Got to move on to Game 2.”

Wimbs hit three singles, and Madan added two hits to pace the Cougars’ offense. Lake Catholic has won five consecutive games and six of its last seven going into the day’s second game.

The Cougars have a firstround bye in the Division II tournament and will host the winner of Canal Fulton Northwest and Glenville in a sectional final May 17.

“The playoffs are starting next week,” Madan said. “It’s great for us to keep the momentum going.”

Sports@news-herald.com