Once again, their bats went silent.
The Xaverian baseball team dropped its second-straight shutout loss on June 5, falling 2–0 to Monsignor McClancy in an elimination game of the Catholic High School Athletic Association “AA” playoffs.
“All year that’s really been our issue,” said Clippers coach Frank Del George. “We just really didn’t hit this year. This team, for some reason, couldn’t put the bat on the ball when we had to put the bat on the ball.”
The Clippers struggled to find any offensive momentum against McClancy ace Charlie Neuweiler. The Long Island University-bound senior kept Xaverian on its heels all game long, striking out seven and giving up just two hits in a complete-game effort.
We came out, we tried our best, but Charlie had his stuff today,” said senior left fielder Xavier Vargas. “He had a better game and he overpowered us a little bit. Baseball is a game of inches, so whoever has their stuff that day, that’s who’s going to win. McClancy had the upper hand today.”
Xaverian (24–10) had chances to score, but they were few and far between. The Clippers worked a first-inning walk, but left the runner stranded on second after McClancy worked a 6-3-5 double play. Pasquale Coretto connected on a leadoff single in the top of the third, but the Crusaders then turned another double play, a 1-6-3 gem, to keep Xaverian off the board. The Clippers didn’t connect on another hit for the rest of the game.
“[Neuweiler is] a tremendous pitcher and we knew it,” Del George said. “It just seems like we’ve faced him three times this year and he stuck it to us three times. He’s really, really good and our guys have a tough time swinging the bat against him.”
Shamus Connolly did his best to keep his team in the game, also tossing a complete game and striking out six. The Crusaders, however, only needed a few at-bats to seize control. Eric Luebecke drove in the first run in the bottom of the second, and padded the lead with a run-scoring infield single that barely squeaked through the gap between first and second in the bottom of the sixth.
Xaverian’s defense held, but the team had no answers at the plate.
“We just felt that there was a possibility that we were going to just break out,” Vargas said. “We said, ‘Just keep on playing defense, that’ll help us stay close in the game and we’ll have a chance of winning’.”
It’s a disappointing finish for a Xaverian squad that clinched the regular-season Brooklyn-Queens title. Then the Clippers were shut out in back-to-back games, falling to Monsignor Farrell on June 4.
“It’s just our hitting and our base-running where we’ve got to get better,” Del George said. “Now that we know we’re going to work harder for next year.”
