St. Viator Sweeps a ESCC Double-Header Over Marian Catholic

Marian Catholic hosted Saint Viator Saturday morning as part of a East Suburban Catholic League conference double-header. Saint Viator swept the doubleheader, winning the first game 8-5 behind a strong pitching performance from an uncommitted junior Tony Pluta and winning game two, 18-15 in a comeback fashion. 

GAME 1

The biggest inning in game one came in the top of the fourth for the Lions of Saint Viator. With the game tied at one, the Lions put up a four spot, to go up 5-1, a lead they would never relinquish. Pluta, who impressed on the mound, helped his own cause, driving in the fist run of the inning on an RBI single to left-field. The single brought in Dennis Ratzki, who led off with a walk. SS Casey Hintz followed suit with an infield single to the second basemen. Dominic McKevitt reached on an error, putting runners on first and second with two outs for junior Ian Farrell. Farrell, who went a remarkable 8-for-8 on the day, lined a two-strike double to left center, scoring both Hintz and McKevitt. Farrell would come around to score on an infield single from Joe Bollard, making it 5-1 going to the bottom of the fourth.

Saint Viator added two more runs in the top half of the sixth, giving them a 8-4 lead. McKevitt and Farrell delivered back-to-back one out RBI singles.

Pluta, an uncommitted junior, got the game one start for Saint Viator. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound right handed pitcher was able to stay away from the big inning and battled throughout. In the end, Pluta struck out five batters, allowed three earned runs on six hits in six innings of work. From a deliberate delivery, his fastball played with late arm-side run, sitting 85-87 mph, touching some 88’s early. He also flashed a hard 11/5 curveball, at 77-78 mph and a changeup with fade and sink at 80-82 mph.

Marian Catholic scored single runs in three frames and two runs in the fifth, to account for their five total runs. Sophomore left-handed hitter Kevin Denty led off the fifth with a sharply hit single to right field. Eddie King, a Louisville commit, followed with a double to left center, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Donovan McIntrye, a Kent State commit, scored Denty with a sacrifice fly to right field and Francisco Trevino singled home King to make the score 5-3 at the time.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

+ Ian Farrell (Saint Viator): 3-for-3, 2B, 2 SB’s, 2 RBIs, BB, R
+ Casey Hintz (Saint Viator): 3-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI
+ Dominic McKevitt (Saint Viator): 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI
+ Eddie King (Marian Catholic): 4-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 SB’s, RBI
+ Kevin Denty (Marian Catholic): 2-for-3, R

GAME 2

In a wild game that saw 33 total runs, Saint Viator (18-10-1) came back to win after being down 13-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Viator scored in every inning but the third and it was an 11 run bottom of the fifth that spurred the huge comeback. The 11-run fifth inning included nine hits and four walks for the Viator offense. Ian Farrell continued his torrid Saturday recording two hits in the frame, his biggest being a two-run double. Pluta also delivered a two-run single in the inning.

Marian Catholic (9-15) got things going with the score tied at two in the top of the second inning. The Spartans eventually put up six runs in the frame with Jaylon Nauden, a Butler commit, delivering a big, one out, grand slam to left field. Eddie King helped extend his team’s lead to 10-3 with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the third. 

Farrell, who finished 5-for-5 in game two, hit a two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the six to give his team a three run cushion, making it 18-15. 

In total, the teams combined for 33 runs, 33 hits, 3 home runs, seven errors, 31 RBIs, 9 walks and 4 hit by pitches in the game.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES: 

+ Ian Farrell (Saint Viator): 5-for-5, HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 3 R
+ James Augustyn (Saint Viator): 3-for-3, 3B, RBI, 3 R, HBP
+ Dominic McKevitt (Saint Viator): 2-for-3, 2 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB
+ Casey Hintz (Saint Viator): 2-for-3, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2 R, BB
+ Nick Conenna (Saint Viator): 3-for-5, 5 RBIs
+ Donovan McIntrye (Marian Catholic): 3-for-4, 2 RBIs, 4 R, 2 SB
+ Eddie King (Marian Catholic): 2-for-5, HR, 5 RBIs, R
+ Jaylon Nauden (Marian Catholic): 2-for-5, HR (grand slam), 5 RBIs, R

For more in-depth notes from the games - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog.

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