Cardinal Gibbons Uses Big Sixth Inning To Rally Past St. Thomas

Chris Williams pitched well for Gibbons.

Cardinal Gibbons combined good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting to rally past St. Thomas for a 5-2 win on Friday in the Taravella Preseason Classic.

With the game tied at two, Gibbons capitalized on four consecutive hits to score three runs for the winning margin in the sixth inning. Domenic Baldino walked to lead off and moved to third on pinch-hitter Joe Chevy’s double. Sophomore Drew Hanke then drove in Baldino for the go-ahead run with a single. Dalton Jugovic, Richard Lang and Tyler Norris had hits to produce two more runs.

“I was relaxed,” Hanke said. “I tried to get a good swing on the ball and maybe get a hit. They’re big rivals, and I knew the team wanted to come out and win.”

The Chiefs tied the score at two an inning earlier. With two outs and Connor Durkin at second with a double, Tyler Norris hit the ball hard to right field, but the throw home bounced off the St. Thomas catcher’s chest protector and went back near the third-base dugout, allowing Durkin to score. Norris took second on the bad throw and came home for the tying run on Shane Sibley’s double. It was the second hit of the night for Sibley, who also singled in the first inning.

Both teams got strong starting pitching. St. Thomas’ Alec Byrd held the Chiefs to two hits, struck out six and walked two in his three innings, and Gibbons’ Michael Hanke, older brother of Drew, pitched two innings and recorded five strikeouts in a row. Hanke displayed resilience after a shaky start to the first. After Alec Spano and Edward Salamon got on with a walk and error, respectively, Byrd tripled to bring them in to give St. Thomas a 2-0 lead. After walking the next two batters, Hanke found his composure, settled down and struck out three in a row with the bases loaded.

Gibbons coach Frank Pisani said a long delay before the game because of rain affected Hanke, “but once he warmed up, he was lights out.”

Alec Byrd gave St. Thomas three strong innings, striking out six. He also had two hits.

After the third, the teams went in different directions on the mound. The four pitchers after Byrd struggled, but Gibbons’ Chris Williams, Shane Sibley, Nathan Pawelczyk and Thomas Woodrey did well and didn’t allow St. Thomas to get a runner to second until the seventh.

Raiders coach Bobby Lawson wasn’t pleased with Friday’s performance from his team and acknowledged the lack of hitting, but he accomplished the goal of the game: getting his younger players a chance to gain some real-game experience.

“I was trying to get a lot of guys in the game and put them in those situations early and see how they do,” he said. “We played two good teams and a learned a lot to carry us over into the regular season next week.”

Pisani said he was proud of his team’s effort to come back, just as it did Wednesday in a 7-5 victory against Taravella.

“We stayed in the game and grinded it out,” Pisani said. “Our pitchers did a good job of keeping us in the ballgame.”

Pisani said although it still was preseason, anytime you can win against a rival like St. Thomas provides a measure of satisfaction.

“We told the players this was a rivalry game and to get up for it,” he said. “There’s lots of history between the schools, and you always want to beat St. Thomas.”

Gibbons opens its regular season on Tuesday at South Broward before an out-of-town trip at the end of the week to play Gainesville and Buchholz.

St. Thomas will compete in the Flanagan Invitational with its opening game at 4 p.m. Tuesday against Calvary Christian. The Raiders will play Flanagan at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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