Hirsh Has Answers For Crespi

Pencils up.

Crespi High designated hitter Robert Hirsh rushed out of his Advanced Placement English exam Tuesday only to find himself in another testing environment--a critical baseball game.

Hirsh received a passing grade on the latter--the former won’t be known until the summer--after driving in six runs in Crespi’s 17-6 victory over Notre Dame in a Mission League game at Valley College.

The Celts (18-7, 7-4 in league play) crunched Notre Dame pitchers for 16 hits, half of which came in a 10-run third inning, and remained in contention for a playoff spot.

Notre Dame (14-9, 5-6) was eliminated from the playoff race.

Hirsh’s attendance at the game, though never really in doubt, was impressive.

“It was coming down to the end of the A.P. and I tried to hurry up,” said Hirsh, who then uttered the most damaging words of the day for Notre Dame. “I got it done.”

Hirsh hit a two-run single in the first inning as Crespi jumped to a 3-0 lead, and added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

In between, he hit a bases-loaded triple in the third to give Crespi a 13-1 lead.

Not a bad day.

“He’s been doing that stuff all year,” Crespi Coach Scott Muckey said. “The reason he doesn’t have more RBIs is that the guys ahead of him have been driving them in.”

Crespi will reach the playoffs if it wins Friday at Notre Dame, and St. Francis and Loyola split this week.

The Celts, who demolished Loyola last week, 12-0, continued their assault on league pitching.

Like Hirsh, Chris Crawley had a bases-clearing triple in the third inning.

Andy Campanella added four RBIs for Crespi, including a two-run triple in the sixth.

“They were hitting everything we threw up there,” Notre Dame Coach Tom Dill said. “It must have looked like a beach ball to them.”

For Notre Dame, getting on base wasn’t a problem. Scoring was.

The Knights stranded 12 runners, two in each of the first four innings.

“I don’t have anything to say,” Dill said.

When the teams meet again Friday, there will be a scary parallel for the Knights.

Hirsh has an A.P. History exam that morning.