La Salle grinds out win behind Moretski in PCL quarterfinals
SPRINGFIELD >> Justin Igoe was determined that if Charlie Yanoshik got a ball in the air, he was scoring.
Ingoe, La Salle’s designated hitter stood 90 feet from home as he watch Yanoshik battle off pitch after pitch at the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the second inning of Saturday’s PCL quarterfinal against Archbishop Ryan. Yanoshik, for his part, was also determined to do whatever needed to get a run across because he figured with Gavin Moretski on the mound, it’d be enough.
Yanoshik delivered a sac fly to score Igoe and it was all Moretski needed as the top-seeded Explorers bounced No. 8 Ryan 3-0 at Ward Field to advance to the semifinals.
“That was a big moment for the game,” Igoe said. “We all trust Charlie to get the job done and seeing him up fighting, it just shows what this team’s made of. We all fight for each other and that fly ball, as soon as I saw it go up, I knew I had to score.”
The Raiders, who edged Neumann-Goretti 1-0 earlier in the day at Ward Field in a play-in game, were a not a squad La Salle could take lightly. After all, Ryan had beaten the Explorers 1-0 in the last week of the regular season and their senior left-hander Anthony Giordano was up for the challenge of knocking off the defending champions.
Moretski, one of few players on the roster who saw a significant role in last year’s title, was really good Saturday in throwing less than 90 pitches for a complete game five-hitter with eight strikeouts. The righty also got some terrific defense behind him, including a web-gem of a catch by center fielder David Kratz on the run deep in the park during the top of the second.
“We wanted to keep it as a normal game, we didn’t want to do anything to put more pressure on ourselves and it worked out well,” Moretski said. “We played loose, hopefully the barrels on the ball will eventually fall but we get to keep it rolling. It feels so much easier knowing my teammates will make those type of plays behind me and gives me more confidence throwing my off-speed pitches and battling.”
“He’s one of the best pitchers I’ve ever played with, you can put us out there against anybody and if he’s pitching, I think we have a chance to win,” Yanoshik said. “He doesn’t put the defense in a position to make big plays because he does so much on his own. We had a couple nice plays, but even if we didn’t get them, I think he still would have got us out of it.”
Igoe, who went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, started the second inning rally with a one-out single, taking second on a wild pitch before Daniel Choate reached on an infield single. Kratz laced a base hit to load the bags and bring up Yanoshik in the No. 8 spot.
The shortstop fouled off the first pitch of the at-bat and immediately, his entire approach changed. He was now there to battle and it’s exactly what Yanoshik did through the nine pitch at-bat.
“He got me down two strikes really early in the count, but we did a good job picking up on his pitches and I was really happy with my approach on that one,” Yanoshik said. “Once I got down one strike, I was already in my two-strike approach since we only had one out, I was looking to get something in play and get a run in.
“We have Gavin on the mound, he’s the MVP of the league, so I didn’t think they were going to put up a run so my goal was to get a run in and I’m just glad I could get that job done.”
Moretski aided his own cause in a roundabout way an inning later. Jack Heineman was hit by a pitch with one out in the third, stole second and took third on an Owen Lawn ground out. Moretski, batting cleanup, popped up but the ball just carried higher and higher, leading to an error that allowed Heineman to score before Ryan recovered to throw out Moretski at second to end the inning.
All of that came after a top half of the third where the senior pitcher worked out of his toughest spot in the game. Moretski gave up a one-out single to Ryan eight hitter Nick Costanzo, followed by catcher Anthony Price who hit a double to left-center that put men at second and third with one out and turning the lineup over.
Moretski was able to lock down, getting Ryan’s dangerous leadoff man Adam Estrada to pop out to second base before ringing up Giordano on strikes to end the threat.
“The difference today than the last time we played them was today we had more energy,” Moretski said. “I’m always looking to compete the best I can, keep them from not scoring. My slider was there most of the time today, that helped in those situations and my changeup came along, I had more confidence as the game kept going.”
La Salle all but iced the game with a third run in the sixth inning with a Moretski plate appearance again key in creating it. The pitcher drew a two-out walk and was lifted for pinch runner Sean McCallum, who stole second two pitches later.
Igoe came up and delivered his second hit of the day, a single to left that McCallum got a good jump on, sending the pinch-runner all the way home from second and making it 3-0.
“All year I’ve felt comfortable at the plate looking for fastballs and pitches I can hit, I knew he had good off-speed, so I sat on it a little bit and expected it,” Igoe said. “Having Gavin on the mound, I knew if that run came in the game was pretty much settled. We know how dominant he is, so when I saw the ball fall and Sean round third and score, it was a sense of relief but we still had that next inning to go.”
La Salle will face No. 4 Father Judge, a 2-1 winner over No. 5 Archbishop Wood, in Wednesday’s semifinal round. The Explorers edged the Crusaders 1-0 in the regular season.
While the Explorers are the defending champs, it’s largely a new cast this year and it wasn’t a success right out of the box. But the team kept working, put together a 10-game PCL winning streak and thinks its best is yet to come.
“Last year having so many great guys graduate, it was a clean sweep basically, we have a new starting lineup for the most part but we’re like brothers,” Yanoshilk said. “We’re together all the time and it’s like a family. You get out there and you want to win together. I think today was a big win and we’re in a good spot.”
LA SALLE 3, ARCHBISHOP RYAN 0
ARCHBISHOP RYAN 000 000 0 – 0 5 1
LA SALLE 011 001 x – 3 5 0
WP: Gavin Moretski. LP: Anthony Giordano. SO-BB: Moretski 8-0, Giordano 4-1, Adam Estrada 0-0.
2B: AR – Anthony Price, Adam Estrada. Multiple hits: L – Justin Igoe 2-3.
