Crusaders move on to regional semifinals
Strake Jesuit is heading back to the regional semifinals for the second straight season.
The Crusaders defeated Summer Creek 14-9 in Game 2 to sweep the Bulldogs in a best-of-three Class 6A regional quarterfinal series Friday night at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.
In the first game of the series, Strake Jesuit defeated Summer Creek 3-2.
“Our bats were a little silent” in the first game, Strake Jesuit coach Raul Garcia-Rameau said. “I challenged the kids at the beginning of the game that we needed an offensive game. It kind of worked out that we needed to score more than 12 runs.”
Strake Jesuit will take on Pearland in the regional semifinals, with a time and date to be announced. The Oilers swept Clear Creek in their best-of-three regional quarterfinal series.
Summer Creek (27-8-1) won its first district title and reached the regional quarterfinals for the first time this season.
The Bulldogs led early after a fielder’s choice and a passed ball brought home two runs in the first inning. But Strake Jesuit tied it 2-2 in the top of the second on back-to-back RBI doubles by Nick Sullo and Matt Evans.
The Bulldogs took back the lead in the bottom half on Erick Arcay’s two-run single with the bases loaded to make it 4-2 Summer Creek.
The Crusaders put together another two-out rally in the third, as Harrison Acquaro hit a blooper to right field for a two-run double to tie the game before Sullo added an RBI single to give Strake Jesuit a 5-4 lead.
Crusaders starter John Toney settled down and retired nine Bulldogs in a row at one point. He ultimately earned the win, giving up five runs on five hits in five innings while striking out six.
Strake Jesuit added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Leadoff hitter Clay Richardson walked, then came home on Trey Duffield’s triple. Duffield scored on a wild pitch to the extend the lead to 7-4.
The Crusaders blew it open in a sloppy fifth, scoring five runs off one hit, an error, two hit batsmen and three walks. Chris Novack had a two-run single to make it 12-4.
But Summer Creek responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut Strake Jesuit’s lead to four.
Adam Troy hit an RBI single with the bases loaded, and a wild pitch brought home another run. Two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice and an RBI single by Ahmar Donato.
“When the game started to get away from us they could have cashed it in and gave up,” Summer Creek coach DJ Wilson said. “That’s not them. I was proud of them the way they fought the whole time. They weren’t going to go down without a fight, and for a while there it got pretty close.”
Summer Creek loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Aaron Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to cut Strake Jesuit’s lead to three. But the Crusaders got two more runs in the top of the seventh.