By James A. McCray IIIDigitalSports Content ManagerFans had barely settled into their seats during Saturday's baseball contest between the hosting
Good Counsel Falcons and visiting
DeMatha Stags before the Stags' offense was already at work.
DeMatha lead-off batter
Chris Kashangaki took the first pitch of the day and sent it through the center of the infield and, in turn, set the tone for the DeMatha offense that scored five runs in the opening two innings en route to its 7-4 victory.
"At the beginning of the game my coach [
Sean O'Connor] told us that he wanted us to be very aggressive," Kashangaki said. "He always likes us to dictate the game. ... First-pitch fastball I had right down the middle, so might as well swing at it and take it up the middle for a single."
The "us" in this case included Kashangaki and the second bat in the order,
Ryan Burbrink.
After Kashangaki stole second and eventually third, Burbrink scored him with an RBI single, giving the Stags an early 1-0 lead.
Burbrink also played the biggest role in a three-run second inning as a sacrifice bunt turned into two additional RBIs for the sophomore, as he led the team with three total on the day, and gave DeMatha a 5-0 lead.
"Coach always gets on me about bunting," Burbrink explained. "I knew I had to get that down, and I knew that was going to be the difference in the game, so I knew I had to get that down."
Kashangaki plated the third run of the game just before Burbrink's at-bat and teammate
Kyle Fives knocked in the second RBI of the first inning, as well.
"The one thing we talked about coming over here today was being aggressive, hitting fast balls early in the count, and setting our tempo," O'Connor said. " ... And Chris sets the tone when he hits the first pitch right back up the middle."
As far as Ryan's bunt, O'Connor added: "Getting the bunt down, that's the key. Then, it is the job of the trail runner to read the play, and in that case [Chris] did an unbelievable job and read it beautifully."
Earning the winning decision from the mound was DeMatha starting pitcher
Kyle Riffe as he went five innings giving up five hits and striking out three Good Counsel batters.
Riffe also helped his own cause with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning.
"I pitched against them once before this season," Riffe said, "so I just tried to come out here and do as well as I did last time."
On his home run, Riffe added: "I actually didn't think it was going out when I hit it. I went down and golfed it and it kind of just kept going."
With the victory, DeMatha (16-7 overall) locked up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming
Washington Athletic Catholic Conference playoffs.
"I hope our better ball is still ahead of us," O'Connor said. " ... Today's effort was great. I think we played an unbelievable ball game. Credit to [Good Counsel] because they came back and they hit the ball, and they kept us at bay.
" ... But, I think we are in a good spot, I like being the one seed."
Good Counsel scored its first run of the game on a solo home run from
Kyle Porter in the bottom half of the second frame, cutting the deficit to 5-1.
A two-run bomb from
Jimmy Belfont in the sixth and an additional sac-fly RBI cut the lead to 6-4, but that is as close as the Falcons and head coach
John McGowan would get.
"They don't give in, they don't give up, and usually for us it comes down to the first two innings," McGowan said of his team. "If we can battle through those first two innings, we are right there. ... We had a lot of lost opportunities today and left a lot of runners out there.
"Against a team like DeMatha, you can't lose opportunities."
Good Counsel first-baseman Jake Taylor, one of the biggest bats in the Falcons lineup was not in the game due to a car accident early Saturday morning.
Although in attendance, Taylor was not suited.
"Jake is one of our premium guys," McGowan added. "He was sitting on the bench and with him it might have been a different story because he is our biggest hitter. It's the confidence he brings to the team, and having him miss this game was big."
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James A. McCray IIIDeMatha 7, Good Counsel 4DeMatha 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 -- 7 10 2
Good Counsel 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 -- 4 8 1
WP: Riffe
LP: Bidwick
Extra-base hits:
HR- D (Riffe); GC (Porter, Belfont)
