Notre Dame Gets Relief at Start and Edges St. Genevieve

Rob Kostenbader was just hanging around, minding his own business and watching infield practice, pawing at the dirt under his cleats. As Notre Dame High’s first reliever, Kostenbader reckoned that he would see some playing time, but not until late in the game when starter Steve Collela tired.

Collela, however, came up with a sore arm 10 minutes before the Knights’ nonleague game Friday against St. Genevieve at Notre Dame.

Enter Kostenbader.

“It’s the sneak-up-on-the-pitcher method,” Notre Dame Coach Bob Mandeville said moments after Kostenbader finished a complete-game, 3-2 victory over the Valiants. “Don’t give him time to think about it, just put him out there.”

Kostenbader (1-0) countered St. Genevieve ace Roland De La Maza with a five-strikeout six-hitter that extended the Knights’ winning streak to eight games.

“I usually come out of the pen, so I’m used to the spur-of-the-moment thing,” Kostenbader said. “I guess because of the intensity of the game, I had all my strength with me.”

He also had the strength of the Notre Dame defense behind him. The Knights did not commit an error, and Matt McElreath’s one-bounce throw from center field in the third inning shot down speedy Joe Cascione at the plate. Catcher Bobby Hughes emerged from a dusty pile-up with the ball in hand to kill St. Genevieve’s rally after two runs. Five of the Valiants’ hits came in the third inning.

“I gotta give credit to Notre Dame,” St. Genevieve Coach Kevin Kane said. “They made all the plays.”

And the Valiants didn’t.

De La Maza, who lost his first game in four decisions, was perfect for 3 innings, but Valiant shortstop Cascione booted McElreath’s grounder with two out in the fourth. McElreath stole second and scored on Jeff Antoon’s single to right-center field.

Notre Dame scored two more unearned runs in the fifth to go ahead, 3-2. With one out, Kevin Milligan reached on Joe Chaparro’s fielding error and advanced to second on Tony Ljubetic’s sharp single to center.

Kevin Crosby struck out, but the ball got past catcher Frank Aguirre and the runners broke for second and third. Aguirre’s throw to third bounced down the left-field line. Craig Schilling, who was running for Milligan, scored and Ljubetic went to third.

Chad Ratliff then walked and attempted to steal second. Aguirre’s throw to second was wild and Ljubetic trotted home with the winning run.

De La Maza, whose 1.17 ERA will drop even further, had seven strikeouts and gave up four hits--usually good enough to win. The Knights never did solve De La Maza’s curveball but appeared to handle the junior right-hander better when he was pitching from the stretch.

“Roland had them tied in knots,” Kane said. “To be quite truthful, I don’t want to boast, but he doesn’t get many chances to throw from the stretch.”

De La Maza found little consolation in that.

“I thought I could have pitched a better game,” he said. “I didn’t feel good at all. My fastball was off.”

St. Genevieve provided De La Maza with two runs in the third.

Consecutive singles by Aguirre and Todd McMenamin started the inning. After a fielder’s choice that cut down Aguirre at third, Cascione singled to load the bases and Alfonso Gutierrez singled home McMenamin. De La Maza lined out to center field and Chaparro followed with a line drive to center field. Enriquez scored easily from third, but McElreath’s strong throw caught Cascione.

The Valiants managed only one hit over the final four innings against the burly Kostenbader, who previously had pitched 10 innings all season.

“It was just a big game,” Kostenbader said. “They were supposed to come in and beat us, at least that’s what a lot of people thought.”

Kane was curiously pleased after the game. The 2-A Division Valiants, after all, had just provided 5-A Notre Dame with three runs and the victory. Had it been next season, when both teams join the newly formed San Fernando Valley League, it would have been a league loss.

Kane didn’t see it that way.

“I can’t blame the players,” he said. “We had a long layoff, but I thought they played great.

“We’re going to try and learn. We had a free game to find out about ourselves.”