St. Mary's Wins Rich Baseball Classic
St. Mary's defeated Clarence, 11-0, on Saturday in the opening round of the eight-team single-elimination tournament. The Lancers then defeated McKinley, 13-2 on Sunday morning to advance on to the championship game.
St. Mary's centerfielder Jessie Kelso was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. He recorded six putouts in the championship game including a spectacular basket-catch in the left-centerfield gap that helped stifle the St. Francis offense. He also had a single, three walks, four runs scored and an RBI in St. Mary's three tournament games.
In Sunday's championship game, St. Mary's jumped out to the 5-0 lead and held off the Red Raiders. Third baseman Matt Bittner had three hits in the game, including an RBI-single in the first to get the Lancers on the board. St. Mary's then scored four runs in the fourth inning thanks in large part to right fielder Mike Wagner's two-run single.
St. Francis tried to make another amazing rally like their six-run comeback to defeat Niagara Wheatfield, 8-7, in Saturday's opening round. Shortstop Joe Pantano got the Red Raiders on the board with an RBI-single in the fifth inning. St. Francis plated two more in the sixth on an error and second baseman Ted DiRienzo's RBI-hit. But 5-3 would be as close as St. Francis would get.
St. Mary's Joe Barnhart got the win in relief of Jeremy Pyszcyznski, who left in the fourth inning with a back injury. Barnhart allowed three runs (one earned) in 3.2 innings of work. Piezinski worked the first 3.1 innings without giving up a run.
St. Mary's of Lancaster now joins Williamsville North (2007) and Bishop Timon-St. Jude (2006) as champions of the Robert E. Rich Memorial High School Baseball Classic.