Servite Starts Season With a Bang

Pat Breen welcomed new Coach Todd Cook with a leadoff home run and top-ranked Servite defeated No. 10 Western, 11-1, in the first round of the Loara baseball tournament Friday at Glover Stadium.

“That helped me relax a little bit,” Cook said. “You get butterflies in your first game, then Breen comes up and hits a home run in the first at-bat and everything settles down a little bit.”

Breen’s home run was the beginning of a tough afternoon for Western starter Bryan Clark, who gave up eight runs, walked five batters and hit three in three innings.

The Friars blew the game open with a five-run third inning that gave them a 7-1 lead. After walking the first two batters of the inning, Clark got two outs but then loaded the bases with another walk. He then hit consecutive batters to force in two runs and Joe Schaefer followed with a three-run double over the head of left fielder Kyle Stanley.

Servite starter Brian Wolfe, who led the county with 139 strikeouts last season, pitched four innings, giving up one run on four hits. He had seven strikeouts.

Servite catcher Ryan Garko, who hit .426 last season with eight home runs and 30 RBIs, was hitless in his first four at-bats before lining a home run over the center-field fence in the seventh inning.

“Both teams came out a little tight,” Cook said. “You could see that everybody was a little antsy because we’ve been practicing really hard.”