After Quick Start, Notre Dame Falls to St. Francis, 14-8

Notre Dame High baseball Coach John Barrett knew that, with a young team, it was going to be a tough season.

St. Francis used a Del Rey League game Wednesday at Notre Dame to drive that point home, defeating the Knights, 14-8.

According to Barrett, the problem is pitching. Notre Dame pitchers walked 10 batters, striking out only two.

“At the beginning of the year, we knew we didn’t have the pitching,” Barrett said. “But we always expected to be in the hunt. The worst thing is our inconsistency.

“We just don’t throw strikes.”

St. Francis trailed, 7-3, before it began taking batting practice against the Knights’ pitchers.

St. Francis sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth inning, scoring eight times. The Golden Knights roughed up three Notre Dame pitchers in the inning for six hits, including a three-run home run by Sam Vranjes. Manny Colomes was 4 for 5, two of his hits coming in the fourth.

“He’s been a surprising junior for us,” St. Francis Coach Jim O’Connor said of Colomes. “He’s coming around, playing very consistently.”

St. Francis (2-2 in league, 7-6 overall) added three runs in the seventh. Notre Dame (0-4, 4-8), after scoring six runs in the first inning, could manage only two more runs.

In the first inning, Nate Milone reached first base on an error, went to second on a force out and scored on Rex McMackin’s single to right field. Roger Nix hit a blooper to right field that scored McMackin, and Nix scored when Scott Hayward reached first base on third baseman Jeff Ojeda’s error. John Perak’s single sent Hayward to second, and brought Greg Haptor to the plate with two outs. On a 3-2 pitch, Haptor belted a three-run homer over the left-field fence.

Although the Knights remain winless in league, O’Connor is not counting Notre Dame out.

“We beat them in the first round last year but they came back and beat us,” O’Connor said. “We’re not overlooking them. No one is going to run away with it.”

Milone, the Knights’ catcher, did not mirror O’Connors’ confidence.

“Were beating ourselves,” he said. “We need to start cutting down on the walks and win games.”

St. Francis 14

Notre Dame 8

ST. FRANCIS--Calderon, Cranmer (2), Larsen (2) and Vranjes.

NOTRE DAME--Peterson, Milligan (4), Kane (4), Hayward (7) and Milone.

WP--Larsen (2-1); LP--Milligan (1-2).