Barry pitches St. Monica Academy baseball past St. Michael’s
St. Monica Academy pitcher Beau Barry went the distance to lead the Crusaders to a win on Friday.
GLENDALE — Beau Barry came off the mound after the first inning a bit frustrated.
The St. Monica Academy starting pitcher had given up two runs and sought some advice from coach Phil Gleason. Gleason’s suggestion paid dividends for Barry.
Barry tossed a complete game, striking out five and allowing four hits to spark host St. Monica to a 7-2 nonleague victory against Silverado St. Michael’s Prep on Friday at Scholl Canyon Ball Fields.
“I was overthrowing too much in the first inning,” said Barry, a right-hander. “Coach told me about that and we were able to fix my mechanics.
“He told me I needed to throw over the top more and things would come together. It worked out the rest of the way.”
Barry took charge, allowing three hits for the remainder of the contest and St. Monica (3-1) put together some timely hitting to earn a split in the two-game season series with St. Michael’s (1-1). St. Michael’s posted a 4-2 home win Tuesday.
Gleason, who guided the Crusaders to the International League championship and an appearance in the CIF Southern Section Division VII playoffs last season, said Barry made the necessary adjustments to hold St. Michael’s at bay.
“He’s tenacious and he pitched well last year,’ Gleason said. “We went over a couple of things quickly and then he went back out there and pitched very well.
“He dug in there and gave our guys a chance.”
Barry gave up a run on a groundout by John Howard to make it 1-0. St. Michael’s made it 2-0 on an error by the left fielder.
“I thought Beau was a little hyped in the first inning,” St. Monica catcher Jack Golbranson said. “He settled down nicely after the first inning and he pounded the strike zone. He did a real good job.”
St. Monica bounced back in the first to tie it at 2 on a two-run single by Riley Gosnell.
The Crusaders scored twice in the third, getting a run-scoring single from Jake Lessard to take a 3-2 lead. An error by the right fielder gave the Crusaders a 4-2 advantage.
A two-run single by catcher Jack Golbranson extended the lead to 6-2 in the fourth before an error by the shortstop closed out the scoring.
“We wanted to get some more runs there and I got a good pitch to hit,” said Golbranson, who had two hits and scored two runs. “We have a good team and we’d like to try to take league again and win a couple of playoff games.”
St. Monica finished with seven hits, including two from Matt Golbranson. Matt Golbranson scored two runs for the Crusaders, who got one run apiece from Mark Golbranson, Charlie Boles and Kevin Griffin.
Joseph Hoard and Michael Gates scored for St. Michael’s, which finished second in the Express League behind Avalon and reached the second round of the Division VII playoffs last season.
