It was a game that seemed to take about two months to play, but after numerous postponements, St. Francis Prep and Xaverian finally squared off on Thursday afternoon and the Terriers defeated the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens ‘A’ division champions, 3-2, at Cunningham Park.
“Mentally, it was important,” St. Francis Prep coach Bro. Robert Kent said. “They’re a great team. This might move us up in the seedings.”
Trailing 2-0 in the first inning, St. Francis Prep (11-5 CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens ‘A’) scratched across runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles by Chris Brudie, Alex Middlemiss and a double by Billy Xouris after Jason Perrone’s second double of the game.
Lebro Burnette allowed two runs on five hits, striking out seven in 6 1/3 innings. With runners at first and third and one out in the top of the seventh inning, Sal Minichino induced a game-ending double play – the third the Terriers turned on the day – to earn the save.
St. Francis Prep locked up third place in Brooklyn/Queens, while Xaverian (14-2 CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens ‘A’) will be the top seed for the upcoming Class A intersectional playoffs.
Bishop Ford 13, St. Edmund Prep 0: Pitchers Louis Mastrandrea and Will Romero combined for a one-hitter, while Esteban Gomez hit two long triples into deep right field, Mastrandrea also added three hits and Kasceim Graham hit a long triple off the left field fence for Bishop Ford (10-7 CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens ‘A’), which had 17 hits in the game. St. Edmund Prep fell to 0-17.
St. Peter’s 8, St. Joseph by the Sea 4: The Eagles temporarily take over first place in CHSAA Staten Island ‘A’, taking a half-game lead on idle Monsignor Farrell with an 8-4 win against St. Joseph by the Sea at Clove Lakes Park Thursday afternoon. If Farrell beats All Hallows Friday, the Lions claim the division title.
Led by Joe DiMauro, who had a double and three RBIs, Matt Salvatore, who was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI and John Ziznewski was 2-for-3 with two runs scored as the Eagles (10-5 CHSAA Staten Island ‘A’) scored four runs in the first and never looked back. Sea (8-7 CHSAA Staten Island ‘A’), which had five errors in the game, was led by Chris Ramanauskas was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Pete Amerosi, who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
