SAINTS’ OFFENSE KEEPS PRODUCING
Saratoga Catholic scores double-digit runs in latest blowouts
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Before the season began Saratoga Catholic baseball coach Phonsey Lambert talked about how his team used the offseason to become a better offensive team for their move into the Wasaren league. It worked. On Monday, the Saints put up a combined 30 runs in a double header against Cambridge.
Lambert said Saratoga Catholic’s bats just came together, especially in the second game.
“In the second game, we just exploded and the kids started finding their groove,” Lambert said. “They were hitting tough pitches, not swinging at bad pitches, waiting for the ball to get into the strike zone and taking good swings. We had a lot of balls hit into the gap, had a lot of extra base hits tonight, so I am really pleased with our offensive output going into these three tough league games coming up.”
In game 1, Saratoga Catholic fell behind early, with Jay Flynn giving up five runs in the first inning. Patrick Robertson hit a single to score the first run of the game and Jake Harrington hit a three RBI double to clear the bases and put Cambridge ahead 4-0. Nate Woodworth tacked on another run on in the inning to give Cambridge the early 5-0 lead.
Lambert said he wanted to get Flynn work in the first game, but it didn’t work out.
“What we wanted to do was give Jay Flynn the start today,” Lambert said. “He worked around the start and it didn’t work out for him today, but gave us the effort.”
The Saints took over after that.
In the bottom of the inning, Terel Tillman knocking in Connor Farrington for the team’s first run of the game. Tillman also entered in relief on the mound to shut down Cambridge for the rest of the game.
Tillman said he knew he needed to slow down Cambridge’s bats.
“I just knew they couldn’t get that many hits, so I tried to shut them down and throw strikeouts, so I was pretty good overall,” Tillman said.
Saratoga Catholic got two more in the second with RBI singles from Tyler Haraden and Jake Hart and three more in the third to get their first lead of the game.
Connor McFadden and Hart got RBI singles in the inning and Kaedan Learch got an RBI triple to get the team ahead 6-5.
In the fifth, Saratoga Catholic tacked on three more with Hart, Learch and Haraden each driving in a run. McFadden and Learch had two-RBI hits in the sixth and Dante Marin added another to lead the Saints to a 13-5 victory in Game 1.
Lambert said his team never gave up, even after falling behind early.
“The kids battled back,” Lambert said. “Cambridge, to their credit, put the bat on the ball early and Terel came in and shut the door. Dante did a nice job closing it. The kids really responded with the bats and I was very happy with the way we
played defense.”
Game 2 saw the Saint bats stay active in a big 16-2 victory. Saratoga Catholic’s big inning came in the third when they managed to get five runs on the board. Zac Cronk hit an RBI double and then scored on a wild pitch. Hart got an three RBI triple to get the 6-0 lead.
Saratoga Catholic has scored 10-plus runs in 13 games this season and has only one win where they scored less than 10, when they scored six and beat Hoosick Falls.
“We manage to hit well up and down our order,” Lambert said. “Jake Hart is our leading hitter and he is our No. 8 hitter, so we pretty much have a balanced lineup right through and now Tyler Haraden is starting to produce at the nine spot and starting to drive in some runs. If we can stay balanced and be able to be able to contribute throughout the lineup, that just takes pressure off your three and four guys.”
Hart, who batted eighth in both games of the doubleheader was a key hitter for the Saints in the two wins. He went 3-for-3 in the first game with a triple and three RBIs and 2-for-3 in the second game with another triple and four more RBIs.
“I came out with the same mindset I usually had,” Hart said. “Just to do as much as I can for my team to help us win because they came out ahead of us in the first inning, put up five runs, and I just knew that I needed to get my portion of the work done offensively and I knew the rest would fall for us.”
Lambert said it is important for the team to keep their offensive output going with three big games coming up later in the week.
“We were hoping to be competitive in our first year,” Lambert said of the team’s Wasaren League schedule. “We still have three games left and we have to continue to play good baseball in order to beat these three teams. These three teams traditionally are the best teams in the league, when you talk about Greenwich, Hoosick Falls and Hoosic Valley, so we got our work cut out for us the rest of the week.”