BY ADAM RONIS
After a deflating loss in Game 1 of the best-of-three CHSAA championship, St. Dominic bounced back in Game 2 with a 3-2 win today against St. John the Baptist at NYIT. SJB used a seven-run seventh inning to win Game 1, 11-5. St. Dominic committed eight errors in Game 1, including three in the seventh leading to seven unearned runs. SJB took advantage with 12 hits.
Game 3 will be played tomorrow 4:15 p.m. at NYIT. Kyle Hansen overcame dehydration, dizzyness (we assume not from watching his team's defense), an error in the sixth and another in the seventh on a fly ball that would have ended the game. He threw a four-hitter, struck out nine, walked two and allowed one earned run.
"We just need to give him a couple of runs and we win," St. Dominic rightfielder Dan Lackner said of Hansen. "Kyle is very mentally strong. He's very mature for his age. Baseball really is half mental and that’s one of his biggest strengths."
St. Dominic hasn't lost two consecutive games this season and Hansen made sure the streak remained intact.
"Kyle started us off," St. Dominic coach Rick Garrett said. "He brings that 90-plus fastball in the first inning and the team knew he was here. He said I got the ball. Follow me. What we did in Games 1 and 2, we probably didn’t do all season if you added up every game. Sometimes when it rains, it pours."
SJB junior Brendan McLaughlin pitched real well for the second straight playoff game. He allowed five hits, walked two and struck out six.
"It was a pitcher’s duel," SJB coach John Habyan said. "Both kids pitched great ball games."
Who thought SJB would be in this situation? After losing in the championship last season, SJB returned no pitchers with varsity experience. The team has played with the poise of a veteran team the last few weeks. They have hit the ball conisistently hard in the postseason against good pitchers.
"They’ve really been doing a great job," Habyan said. "I knew it would take a season for them to get comfortable. They have some confidence right now. We’re facing a good team. As a coach you expect them to evolve.Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. This year it has."
Either way, a great story will emerge tomorrow. St. Dominic will win its first championship or SJB will cap a tremendous run.
For more on today's games, check out my two stories in tomorrow's paper.