Clinched: Calhoun Baseball Tops Carey to Secure Second Place

If the fans that went to Carey High School to watch yesterday's showdown between the Colts and the Seahawks were looking for a pitcher's duel, they found themselves in the wrong place.

The Colts (13-4) scored runs in five of the seven innings and they were able to fend off a late Carey rally for a 11-9 win to clinch second place in the conference.

"It was a great ballgame," Calhoun coach Mike Marino said. "We scored just enough runs to win the game."

The scoring got underway in the top of the first inning when Calhoun took advantage of some shoddy Carey defense. Dan Sullivan reached on an error by Pat Amato, and then Ryan Kass singled. Jake Thomas smoked a double to right, and that gave the Colts the 1-0 lead.

"Sunday I switched my swing a little bit," Thomas said. "I got looser in my stance, and it worked out yesterday and it also worked out today."

That is an understatement. Thomas also added a two-run homer later in the game, and he now has two homers and nine RBI over his last two games.

The Colts continued the scoring as Robbie Rosen reached on the second error of the inning by Amato, and the Colts got a big two-out single by Frank Trimarco to score the fourth run.

Amato was pulled by Seahawks coach Mark Hedquist, who was non-committal in giving a reason.

"I'd rather not answer that," he said. "I will say that I try to reward kids that work hard."

The Seahawks scored their first run when they executed a double steal with one out in the frame. Thomas attempted to get Kyle Demeo at third base, but the throw got away at third, and Demeo was able to score. Calhoun starter Joe Saladino was able to limit the damage at that.

"I thought he pitched well," Thomas said of Saladino. "They stranded a lot of runners, and he got the big outs."

Calhoun added to the lead in the second when Thomas homered to right center. They added two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Kass and a bases loaded walk to Tom Viverito. That would give the Colts an 8-1 lead.

Then the Seahawks woke up.

Carey added a fourth inning run on an RBI single by Mike Marino, and then they added another on a ground out by Tom Rydewski. Al Gentile closed out the frame with a two-run single, and all of a sudden, it was 8-4 Calhoun.

Calhoun added a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Zach Goldstein, which was his third hit of the game. That hit gave the Colts a 9-4 lead.

"I just make sure to relax my hands," Goldstein said. "That's really what I need to do."

Goldstein was also the beneficiary of the game's top defensive play when he made a full dive to pluck a Demeo line drive out of the air, and he turned it into a double play.

"I know Demeo," Goldstein said. "I shaded a bit to the right side and I know he hits the ball hard, so I was able to have a pretty good idea of where it was going."

Carey cut the lead to just two in the bottom half of the fifth, when took Mike Grossane deep for a three-run blast.

"I am really proud of how we came back," Hedquist said. "If there's one positive thing to take out of a loss, that would definitely be it."

The game's biggest hit came with one out in the top of the sixth with Trimarco at the plate. Trimarco sent a deep drive to left, and Marino reached up at the fence, but the ball glanced off of his glove and over the fence for a two-run homer.

"I will take it," Trimarco said. "I hit the ball well and I thought it had a shot to go."

Trimarco also got the win in relief, as he threw two and a third innings in relief.

"My curveball was working," Trimarco said. "I was throwing well."

Demeo added an RBI single in the sixth to cut the lead to 11-9, and the Seahawks got two-runners on in the seventh, but Trimarco struck out Marino with a fastball to end it.

The win locks Calhoun into second place in the conference behind MacArthur, with the Colts first playoff game at home next Monday.  Before that, they will be looking to conclude their regular season in style today when they take on Carey again, this time at Calhoun at 4:30 p.m.

"We need to keep the momentum going," Thomas said. "Momentum is everything."

(Note: Today's game has been rained-out and will be made-up tomorrow, same place, same time.)