La Salle erupts in first inning to top Archbishop Carroll for PCL title

EAST WHITELAND >> Eric Marasheski started his day by running 90 feet and ended his day by running 90 feet.

The La Salle senior shortstop opened the first inning with a strikeout, but a passed ball gave him the chance to sprint to first and reach base to kick off a big inning. He ended the game scoring the game-ending run after Brian Schaub laced a bases-loaded single into left field.

In between, Marasheski and his teammates put together a pretty complete effort as they defeated Archbishop Carroll 10-0 in five innings in the Philadelphia Catholic League title game Saturday morning at Immaculata.

“It was great, I was so happy for Schaub to put a great ball into left field and happy for the team, they deserved it,” Marasheski said. “Joe (Miller) pitched his heart out today. I’m just so happy for all of them.”

The Explorers won their first PCL baseball crown since 2013. It also gave La Salle its 12^th PCL title this year, a school record for a single academic year.

La Salle topped the PCL in the regular season but its lone setback came to Carroll, which finished second, in a one-run defeat.  So, it wasn’t surprising the two met for the title. What was surprising was the final score.

“They’re really talented, they can pitch, they can play defense and they can hit and we knew that coming in,” La Salle coach Kyle Werman said. “You’re going to have games like this. I think if we played 10 times, we’re fighting and clawing in one-run games for most of them. The emotion of a game like this sometimes lends itself to a blow-up inning somewhere either with one team putting the hits together or one team collapsing and I think we did a good job putting bats to balls.”

La Salle erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning but only after Miller, the senior left-handed ace, sent them there with a lot of momentum. Carroll’s Tyler Kehoe drew a leadoff walk and managed to advance to third in the top of the first and though Miller walked another hitter, he struck out the side to strand both.

Miller was terrific, striking out eight and yielding just three hits to a lineup packed with potent hitters. The senior recorded his first six outs via strikeouts and came out ready to attack the Carroll batters from the first pitch.

“I felt like I had a lot better control of my fastball than I’ve had the past couple days and the big thing is my changeup was on today,” Miller said. “When I’m able to locate my changeup, that’s when I get a lot of my ground balls so I felt really good with that. I was even able to get a couple sliders in there.”

Carroll sent its own ace to the mound in PCL Pitcher of the Year Jake Kelchner. Kelchner didn’t make it out of the first inning as La Salle seemed to have everything go its way. After Marasheski reached on the passed ball, Explorers catcher Andrew Cossetti walked on four pitches followed by Anthony Cossetti sending a single to center field.

Kehoe made a spectacular play on the ball, getting to it and firing home, where Cole Chesnet made the tag on Marasheski for the first out. The brief respite wouldn’t last however, as Schaub was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Andrew Cossetti scoring on a wild pitch and Jack Ruch hit a single to start the scoring.

“We came out flat in the first inning and they came out ready to play, it just wasn’t our day,” Kehoe said. “We battled all day but it just didn’t come for us. But there are still games to play and this isn’t the end of the world and we’re going to come back and win the state championship.”

Owen Lawn hit a sac fly for a 3-0 lead and the second out, but the Explorers refused to make the third out before putting more on the board. No. 9 hitter Matt Acker hit an RBI single to flip the lineup where Marasheski, a Princeton recruit, had a much better result in his second at-bat, ripping a two-run single for a 6-0 lead.

“I was just more comfortable with my timing, Jake was slowing down a little bit with runners on base,” Marasheski, a North Wales resident, said. “Luckily I got a fastball, he started me off with a curveball 0-1 and as soon as I saw the fastball coming out of his hands I was confident. I just put a good swing on it, didn’t want to try and do too much.”

After an error scored a seventh run, La Salle loaded the bases again to chase Kelchner from the hill. Kehoe came in and retired the next batter to end the frame.

Miller gave up two singles to start the second, but then struck out the next three hitters in order to quell any bit of momentum the Patriots had hoped was coming their way.

La Salle added two runs in the third for a 9-0 lead on RBI singles by Andrew and Anthony Cossetti while Miller continued to deal on the mound. Marasheski led off the fifth with a single, Andrew Cossetti was walked and Anthony Cossetti singled to load the bags.

Batting cleanup, Schaub has had a lot of opportunities this season and has made the most of many of them. The senior first baseman and Richmond recruit goes into games with the mentality he’s going to bat in the first inning and was again ready when he stepped into the box in the fifth.

“Coach is big on me going the other way, seeing it deep and letting the barrel take over,” Schaub, a Hatfield resident said. “It didn’t get to the opposite field but I stayed back long enough and got a good barrel on it.

“It really started yesterday at practice and our first time seeing Kelchner. That first time, it was really the first time we saw plus-pitching and yesterday at practice we’d been working on approach and I think it came through in our approach, our practice and our discipline, we trusted and stuck with it and it worked out for us today.”

Both teams return to play next week with Carroll playing for the District 12 5A title and La Salle the 6A title before advancing into the state tournament. Kehoe said the Patriots need to regroup and let the memory of Saturday’s loss be their fuel as they chase the two titles still available to them.

The Explorers are also looking to make a run in states, but their sights were firmly set on the PCL title first.

“This is my fourth year here and coming in not having been around this league or from this area, I didn’t appreciate what it means to have a Catholic League title,” Werman said. “Until you’re in the league for a few years and realize how tough it is, we’ve had a few hard losses the last few years. These guys are all hungry and it’s not easy. This means a whole lot.”

LA SALLE 10, ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 0
ARCHBISHOP CARROLL 000 00 – 0 3 3
LA SALLE 702 01 – 10 12 0
WP: Joe Miller. LP: Jake Kelchner. SO-BB: Miller 8-3, Kelchner 1-4, Tyler Kehoe 0-1. Multiple hits: L – Eric Marasheski 2-4, Anthony Cossetti 3-3.