Holy Cross/Trinity Pub Crusaders took a page out of a Major League Baseball play book Monday night, going with a pitching by committee approach in Game 1 of their St. John’s Molson Senior Baseball League semifinal at St. Pat’s Ball Park.
Holy Cross started young Chris Edwards against the four-time defending champion Shamrocks in Game 1 of their best-of-five series, a 3-1 Holy Cross win. Edwards allowed only one run on three hits in two innings of work, going through the Shamrocks’ batting order before giving way to 39-year-old veteran Sean Janes, the Crusaders’ most effective pitcher this season, with a 3-3 record on the year coupled with a 3.09 earned run average.
Janes pitched five innings, scattering four hits and a couple of walks. He fanned one.
“We don’t have a whole lot of depth in pitching, so we found a way to utilize our arms as best we can,” said Janes, one of the busier pitchers in the senior circuit this season, tossing 32 innings.
RMM Gonzaga Vikings took a 1-0 series lead on Storm in the other semifinal, recording an 8-6 win Monday.
The Holy Cross-Shamrocks result could be described as an upset.
First-place Shammies lost only twice this season in 15 starts, and one of their two ties came against Holy Cross.
“They’re not going to be easy to beat in a five-game series,” said Janes, who began playing junior ball at St. Pat’s as a 17-year-old, “so it’s nice to win that first game to possibly set the tone, and show we can beat these guys.”
Holy Cross registered the win off Shamrocks’ ace Scott Goosney (7.0IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K).
Dave Parsons and John Cribb both had a single, double, RBI and run scored for the Crusaders, and Blair Penney had two base hits and a ribbie.
Brent Power and Mike Dyke each had two hits for Shamrocks.
Dan Connors (7.0IP, 7H, 6R, 5ER, 5BB, 6K, 1HBP) went the distance on the hill as Gonzaga got the jump on Storm.
Daniel Toope (5.1.0IP, 7H, 8R, 5ER, 8BB, 0K) started for Storm and was tagged with the loss. Noah Anderson (0.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 1K) pitched in relief.
Gonzaga was 11-3-1 this season, a point behind Shamrocks.
Eric McKay, Andrew Paul and Mike O’Neil all had a pair of hits for the Vikings. The veteran O’Neil had two RBI, and McKay and Paul both scored three runs.
Brent Power and Shawn Beason both had two hits for Storm.
Semis continue at St. Pat’s Wednesday with two games. Gonzaga and Storm meet at 5:45 p.m. followed by Shamrocks and Holy Cross in the nightcap at 8:45 p.m.
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