HYANNIS – For the second straight season the Barnstable High baseball team spoiled the St. John Paul II Lions’ quest for perfection as the Red Raiders came from behind for a 6-3 win Saturday afternoon in front of a sizeable crowd.
Barnstable junior righty Eric Holzman delivers to St. John Paul II’s Jonny Warden in yesterday’s 6-3 win by the Red Raider ace.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
On May 17, 2014, Barnstable defeated the Lions 5-2 and marked a single blemish on the still young program’s 26-1 season that culminated in an MIAA Div. 4 State Championship.
And yesterday, the Red & White repeated history almost a year to the day as junior righty Eric Holzman – who had been ill for nearly two weeks – returned to the mound to scatter six hits while striking out two and issuing two walks en route to his third win of the season. Holzman stands at 3-0 on the campaign with two no decisions in five starts.
Sophomore righty Ryan Bruning once again flashed a bright future ahead as he came on in the seventh in relief of Holzman and picked up the save.
Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning Barnstable junior shortstop JR DiSarcina (2-3, 2 doubles) led off with a two-bagger, was sacrificed to third base on a pristine bunt by pinch-hitter Lukas Atsalis and then came home on an Alex Mercado RBI-single to tie it at 1-1.
In the top of the sixth, Holzman tired and offered up a 2-2 fastball to Lions’ shortstop Matt Santos (1-4) which he promptly laced up the middle to start a two-run rally. Clean-up man Kevin Marsh then hammered a 1-0 triple to make it 2-1 and Eric DelRosso followed with the same thing to make it 3-1. Holzman then settled to retire the side and leave DelRosso stranded at third.
In the bottom of the sixth, rightfielder Griffin Burke (2-3) led off with a single and Jack Kennedy reached on an error by the centerfielder and the Lions lost some of their usual
Barnstable High’s Alex Mercado avoids a little chin music.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
composure. C.J. McCabe reached on an error and then DiSarcina stepped in to hammer another double to make it 4-3. Lukas Atsalis singled in another run to make it 5-3 and Mercado (2-3, 2 RBI) picked up his second RBI of the day with an ensuing basehit that made it 6-3.
The big Barnstable sixth inning handed a loss to St. John Paul II ace Joe Oriola. Oriola went six innings, struck out seven, walked one and allowed six runs (three earned) on six hits.
Barnstable is now 6-9 on the season and faces a tough Dennis-Yarmouth team on Monday (May 18) at home at 4:00 pm. St. John Paul II will face Bishop Stang on Tuesday (May 19).
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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