Senior Day brought a much-needed win and some levity to Xaverian.
The Clippers scored a 4–1 victory over Colt Neck (N.J.) in non-league baseball at MCU Park on Saturday. Beating Colts Neck gave the team an opportunity to celebrate its six seniors and enjoy its yearly game at the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones.
“There is a chance to thank our seniors and put them on show a little bit, and give them an opportunity to shine,” Clippers coach Frank Del George said. “It takes away the seriousness a little. You get a chance to relax a little bit.”
Earlier in the week Xaverian had dropped an important game to its division rival, first-place Archbishop Molloy, but pulled off a win against Bishop Ford the day before the game at MCU Park.
Four Xaverian pitchers combined on a three-hitter. Anthony Sigismondi, Jeff Manzi and Adam Curto each tossed two scoreless innings apiece. Robert Amato allowed two hits and a run in the seventh, but struck out the game’s final two batters to close things out.
“It shows that we have depth in our rotation,” Sigismondi said.
The Clippers team got all the offense it needed in the fourth inning with help from singles by Anthony Scotti and Chris Amato, and a walk by Nick Meola. James Howard delivered an RBI on a single between shortstop and third base, and an error later in the play allowed a second runner to score to make it 2–0.
Xaverian (17–4–1) tackled on two more runs in the fifth thanks to a run-scoring single from Phoenix Hernandez, and Brian Watters scoring on a double steal to increase the led to 4–0 and secure the seniors a victory.
“They worked hard all season, they deserved to get a win on their senior day,” Howard said.
Even after beating Colts Neck (12–3), the 8–6 loss to Molloy last Monday still bothered Xaverian. It missed a chance to control its destiny in the race for the Brooklyn-Queens division title by tying the Stanners in the standings and gaining a sweep of the two-game season series. Instead Xaverian will need to win all of its six remaining league games and get some help from Molloy.
“Now any chance of coming in first place has to come from Molloy losses,” Sigismondi said.
Despite the defeat, Del George believes this team has performed better than expected, considering it lost 17 seniors and has a core of juniors he expects even bigger things from next season. The coach credits this year’s success to his seniors, Sigismondi, Manzi, Curto, Chris Amato, Brandon Torres and Anthony Barbati, the team’s leading hitter, have all contributing in big ways.
“Each one of them is having a very good season right now,” Del George said. “I’m not disappointed in any of them. They are all stepping up.”
