St. Mark's walks past Sals in baseball showdown

WILMINGTON – Through five games, the top-ranked Salesianum baseball never allowed more than two runs in an inning.

The Sals gave up six runs in the fourth inning Tuesday night — on only two hits. Walks were the primary culprit, and St. Mark’s took full advantage on the way to an 11-2 victory at Frawley Stadium.

Two Salesianum pitchers walked five batters in the fourth, including three with the bases loaded. It was more than enough for the No. 2 Spartans (9-1) to roll over their traditional rival.

“We stayed focused. We were looking for a fastball when the bases were loaded,” St. Mark’s coach Matt Smith said. “They struggled a little bit throwing strikes, and then we came up with the big two-out hit. … That kind of broke the game open.”

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The Sals (5-1) benefited from a couple of Spartans miscues early, scoring on a wild pitch and Beck Million’s RBI single to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning. St. Mark’s got one back in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Austin Colmery.

Then the Spartans sent 11 men to the plate in the fourth. Colmery (3 for 4, two RBIs) tied it at 2 with another single to score Thomas Gibb.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Colmery, St. Mark’s No. 9 hitter. “I was really hitting well, really put the bat on the ball, and good things happened.”

Tyler Kaczmarczyk hit into the second bases-loaded fielder’s choice of the inning, giving the Sals a chance to get out of it with no further damage. Then the Spartans started walking.

Brian Gilardi, Andrew Reich and Matt Theodorakis each walked to drive in three runs and put St. Mark’s ahead 5-2.

“When you see somebody throwing that many balls, you want to take and you want to look for a solid pitch that you can drive up the middle or drive in the gaps,” Reich said.

Sean Gilardi found one of those, ripping a two-run double to left-center to make it 7-2 before the Sals finally got a strikeout to end the inning.

The Spartans kept the onslaught going with another two-out rally in the fifth. Colmery hit his third single, moved to third on Kaczmarczyk’s single and scored on an error. Then Reich drove home two with a double to left for a 10-2 lead.

Reich also did his part on the mound, constantly pitching out of trouble. The senior left-hander made the big pitches when he needed them, stranding seven Sallies runners.

“I had to settle in. I had too many walks early on,” Reich said. “But I got in a groove and got my fastball going. My curveball wasn’t there for me, but my fastball was picking up velocity and getting stronger throughout the game.”

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Smith was happy to see Reich make it through six innings in the rivalry game.

“I don’t know if he had his ‘A’ game tonight,” Smith said. “But he battled. I thought he settled down after we got the lead. He got ahead early in the counts, and he did a good job there in the fourth and fifth innings.”

Chris Ludman came on in relief in the seventh and frustrated the Sals again, getting the final out on a strikeout with the bases loaded.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.