FLANNERY OVERPOWERS FRIENDS

 

St. Vincent Pallotti senior righthander Kieran Flannery fired a two-hitter and struck out 12 batters, in a run-shortened five inning contest, Friday at Panther Park in Laurel, as the host Panthers blitzed through a previously hot Friends squad, 10-0, to displace the Quakers from first-place in the Red Division of the MIAA B Conference.

Flannery was also impressive at the plater where he smacked a triple, added a single and scored two runs, but on the mound he was absolutely dominant.

"Friends is a good team, but I had good stuff today," said Flannery. "My fastball was moving, and my breaking ball was sharp."

Four other Panters had two hts each in a 13 hit attack, as Coach Pat Courtemanche's club took a half-game lead over the Quakers in the battle for the division's top seed heading into the playoffs.  Pallotti (14-9 overall) is now 9-2 in the conference with three regular season games to go.  Friends (14-4 overall) fell to 9-3 in the league.

"Kieran was really on today," said the seven year Panther skipper.  "He found a grove, and stayed there all day."

Flannery struck out the side in the first, second, and fourth innings, and 11 of the first 12 outs he recorded were via the strike outs.

The Panthers got three quick runs in the bottom of the first on a triple from P.J. Martindale, a Flannery single, a Kevin Hughes single and a Sam Stefanelli  double.

Hughes would smash a triple in the fourth, and Stefanelli doubled again in the fifth.  Left-fielder Lino Cressotti had two hits, scored two runs, and drove in three for Courtemanche.

Friends' ace Wick Eisneberg took the loss, only his second of the season.  The junior left-hander has notched seven wins for Quaker coach Tom Randall this spring.

St. Vincent Pallotti 10, Friends 0
F      000 00   -  0   2  1
SVP  300 25  - 10 13  0
Eisenberg, Vaselkiv (5) and Nislow; Flannery and Hughes
2B: SVP-Cressotti, MacNaught, Stefanelli (2).
3B: F-Nislow; SVP-Martindale, Flannery, Hughes.
WP Flannery    LP Eisenberg

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