by Richfield, OH- For the third straight season, Holy Name Baseball wins their first playoff game as they took down Revere 10-3 behind a great outing from Dom Marchetta on the mound and elite hitting from Adam Humenik.
The Green Wave began the game strong in the first as they scored two runs. Joe Svetz along Nick Nemeth were hit by pitches and Humenik reached on a single. With the bases loaded, Luke Farris regathered himself and struck out Ismael Sostre. With the bases still loaded, Joey Ragone hit a ground ball that stayed in the infield. The Minutemen retired the lead runner, but Ragone was safe via a wild throw. This gave Holy Name the lead 2-0 heading into the home half of the first.
Revere was able to get a run back in the bottom of the frame. Geoffrey Siess bunted to the left side of the infield which threw Marchetta off-guard on the mound. His throw to third to try and retire the lead runner went too low for Brendon Preisel to grab, leading to Anden Bender scoring from third. However, the speedster Siess would be thrown out stealing second by Mikey Tworzydlo behind the dish on the following at-bat. This helped keep the Namers up 2-1 heading into the second.
The second inning was a pitcher’s duel as both sides went in order. Combined, there were five groundouts and one strikeout in the frame.
Farris took his stellar second inning play into the third as he retired the top of the Namer lineup in order. In the home half of the inning, two runs scored for the Minutemen. Aaron French hit home the first of the two with a grounder over to third base. The second run of the inning came on an RBI single courtesy of Ang Levak.
Heading into the fourth inning, HN knew what had to be done. They have struggled at times this year to get runs on the board in close games. However, the team came together to play true team baseball. With two outs, Tworzydlo stepped into the box with a chance to move runners along. Preisel took off for second to get into a run down. Pinch runner Cam Ragazzo took advantage of this and broke for home, tying the game at 3-3. Later in the at-bat, Tworzydlo hit a grounder to the shortstop. However, it just snuck under his glove. This was enough to give HN the lead 4-3 after four innings.
The Green Wave added another run in the fifth inning as Nemeth took advantage of a wide throwdown and stole home. In the home half of the inning, French would be the only batter to reach as he was hit by a pitch.
Holy Name’s offense continued to soar in the sixth inning as they added three more runs to their tally. With two runners on, Coach Cottrell made the call to the bullpen and brought in Phil Clark to try and settle things down. He would have the bases loaded behind him after an intentional walk of Svetz. Humenik took advantage of this as he hit an RBI infield single to give the Green and White a 6-3 lead. Harrison Frank would then score on a wild pitch to extend the lead even further. The cherry on top this frame was an RBI single for Sostre, giving HN an 8-3 lead to work with.
Marchetta continued to dominate on the bump for Holy Name as he struck out two batters and forced another to flyout. Humenik put the exclamation point on the ballgame in the seventh as he hit a 2-RBI single to give HN a 10-3 lead. In his last three playoff appearances dating back to HN At STVM last year, Humenik is 6-12 with 7 RBI’s. While the Minutemen had two base hits, Marchetta ended the game by striking out French.
With this loss, Revere will now sit at 12-10 on the year with a few games still on their schedule if they choose to play them. Holy Name now has a 7-17 record and looks to increase their winning streak to three games on Wednesday at Canton South in the second round of the OHSAA Playoffs.
Revere Key Players
#2 Anden Bender: 1-2, 2 W
#8 Ang Levak: 1-2, W, RBI
#11 Geoffrey Siess: 2-4, 2 1B, RBI, 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 K’s
Holy Name Key Players
#1 Dom Marchetta: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 11 K’s, Win
#11 Adam Humenik: 3-5, 3 RBI
#13 Joey Ragone: 1-4, 2B, RBI
Player of the Game: Adam Humenik
