Crespi Turns Up Another Ace and Beats Notre Dame

Innings are at a premium on the Crespi High pitching staff. After the Celts’ top pitchers--Jeff Suppan and Keith Evans--there isn’t that much work to go around.

So when someone else gets a chance, he’d better not blow it.

Jorvic Salazar didn’t.

Salazar started and earned a 6-1 victory over Notre Dame in a Mission League game Wednesday at Valley College.

“I haven’t been real great to him as far as innings pitched,” Coach Scott Muckey said of Salazar. He’s kind of been the odd man out the last few years.”

Salazar (3-0) started in place of Evans, who gave up five runs in three innings in his last start. Salazar allowed a run and three hits and struck out four over four innings.

Suppan pitched the last three innings, striking out five, to pick up a save in his first relief outing of the season.

“(Suppan) is the best guy to have come in behind you,” said Salazar, who is normally the guy behind Suppan and Evans.

“It’s good to have a good pitching staff, even though I’m kind of overshadowed,” he said.

Besides Evans’ poor outing in his previous start, Salazar got the nod because he throws a slider and Muckey thought that would keep the Notre Dame hitters off-balance after seeing Suppan, who does not throw a slider, in the teams’ first meeting on Saturday.

The Knights (9-2, 4-2 in league play) had trouble with whatever Crespi (10-1, 6-0) threw. In its two losses to the Celts, Notre Dame had only nine hits.

But it was pitching and defense that cost the Knights the game this time.

Notre Dame starter Chris Garza (2-1) was a victim of control problems that haunted him last season. He was consistently behind in the count against the Celts. Charged with three walks (one intentional) and six hits, Garza was pulled with none out in the third inning.

One of the plays that hurt Garza was a run-scoring double to center field by Suppan. Although it was scored a hit, the ball could have been caught by center fielder Jabbar Craigwell. Crespi scored three runs in the inning, taking a 4-1 lead.

Notre Dame’s defense provided insurance for the Celts in the sixth, when two unearned runs scored with the aid of three Knight errors.

Those runs didn’t really matter because Suppan had moved from first base to the mound at the start of the fifth. Muckey said the plan was to bring in Suppan at the first sign of trouble, and when Salazar went to 3-and-0 on Gerry Del Valle leading off the inning, that was enough.