At a Glance: CHSAA Class A double-elimination quarterfinals
No. 1 Xaverian (17-2) vs. No. 8 Regis (10-13)
Where: Kaiser Stadium, St. John’s University
When: Wednesday, June 3 at 3:30 p.m.
Probable pitchers:
Xaverian – Anthony Hajjar (Sr. RHP)
Regis – Nick Thomas (Sr. LHP)
Outlook: Xaverian is the defending CHSAA Class A intersectional champion, the favorite to repeat and the top seed in the double-elimination, quarterfinal round. But that means little to Clippers coach Dennis Canale, at least not when it comes to facing red-hot Regis.
“I’ve been saying all along that the No. 1 seed wasn’t any different than the No. 8 seed in this tournament,” Canale said. “I’ve been trying to drive home to my guys that they have a few pitchers there that are very good, who keep them in the ballgame and we have to be somewhat aggressive.”
Regis was the last team to qualify for the playoffs after finishing a disappointing fourth in Bronx/Manhattan ‘A’. But the Raiders have turned things around in the playoffs, beating Archbishop Molloy, St. Francis Prep and Holy Cross. After dominating Queens, Regis has now switched gears to Brooklyn.
“We will obviously be facing our toughest test yet, by far,” Regis coach Mike Skrapits said. “Although we haven't faced them this year, we know that Xaverian is very talented and Coach Canale always does an excellent job with his teams.”
Canale is also complimentary of Skrapits and his little team that could.
“We worked out today and I had a long skull session with the kids and told them that we’re playing a very tough opponent with some very good coaching, by the way,” Canale said. “They keep coming at you. There’s no quit in that team and that was proven in yesterday’s game. That’s a pretty hungry team.”
Indeed, on Monday, Regis crushed Holy Cross, 10-0, in the decisive third game of a best-of-three series after losing Game 2, 14-2, on Sunday.
Xaverian, meanwhile, came from behind to beat Monsignor Farrell and Archbishop Stepinac in the seeding round to earn the No. 1 overall seed. But the Raiders won’t be intimidated.
“We’re very excited to have made it to the tournament, however, we’re certainly not satisfied with just getting here, because at the beginning of the season we expected to be one of the final eight teams remaining,” Skrapits said. “We won’t be scared, though. We’ll look to come out, just play baseball and have some fun.”
