DE LA SALLE DROPS TWO TO DETROIT JESUIT
One close loss hurts. Two in one day just downright stings.
Saturday was that kind of day for the De La Salle Pilots, who took losses of 3-2 and 5-2 against University of Detroit-Jesuit at Jimmy John’s Field.
The Pilots struck first in both games, getting their first run of the day when second baseman Donny Hopps reached via error, allowing JJ Jurczyk to score in the top of the first inning in game one.
But the Cubs struck back in a big way. A B Wilson double in the bottom of the third inning put two runners in scoring position, but back-to-back-to-back RBIs from JJ Schoeck, Dylan Larkins and Chris Rupp gave UDJ their first and only three runs of game one.
De La Salle had several opportunities to draw closer, but that’s all they ended up being: opportunities. They stranded two runners in the third, three in the fourth, three in the fifth and had a runner thrown out at home in the sixth before going down in order in the top of the seventh.
“We’ve been knocking at the door every single game,” said De La Salle head coach John Musachio. “Just one big hit away. We’ve got confidence in our guys to deliver that. It’ll happen, we just need to stay positive and stick to the process. Good things will happen. We’ve been competing — right there. I like this team. I think we’re going to turn things around.”
That trend looked to have been bucked when De La Salle punched in two runs in the top of the first inning of game two when Jackson Bodis and Vito Zito collected RBIs — but those runs were the only ones they’d get. In fact, Bodis’ single was the only hit the Pilots collected in the game. They ended up stranding six runners — all reaching via walk — and then had the side struck out in the seventh.
It was Bobby Crane, a Notre Dame baseball commit, on the mound for the Cubs. He finished with a complete game, allowing zero earned runs with 16 strikeouts — more than 76% of all outs — though he did surrender seven walks.
Game two was a 2-2 game until the bottom of the fourth when the Cubs scored their third run, and they added insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Matt Blazejewski ripped a two-run single to make it 5-2.
It was the first hit of the day to score more than one run — a testament to the pitching strength of De La Salle.
“Pitching is the backbone of our team for sure,” Musachio said. “I think we’re going to be in just about every game that we’re out there with guys we roll out to the bump. Little things. But that’s baseball. But again, we just have to stay positive. Go back to work next week and get better.”
Pilot Brady Pellegrom spun a complete game in game one, striking out nine batters with seven hits, four walks and three earned runs. JJ Weimert started in game two, striking out nine batters