SPRINGFIELD – Declan Cawley gave up a single to the first Lansdale Catholic batter he faced Wednesday afternoon before striking out the next three.
The La Salle senior right-hander proceeded to strike out the side in the top of the second. Then he did it again in the third.
“I was counting them in my head, of course,” Cawley said. “I knew it. It was just pretty cool so I was definitely counting.”
After the host Explorers erupted for 10 runs in their half of the third to take an 11-0 lead, Cawley continued racking up strikeouts – beginning the fourth with two more for 11 straight before the impressive streak finally ended when he conceded a walk on a 3-2 pitch.
“That pitch was so close,” Cawley said. “I guess it was just off a little bit. It is what it is but that 12th would’ve been awesome.”
La Salle tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth to finish the Philadelphia Catholic League contest at Ward Field with 15-0 victory over the Crusaders to remain undefeated.
“I have not seen somebody go 11 straight strikeouts in my coaching career,” said Explorers coach Kyle Werman of Cawley. “It doesn’t matter, they’re not a bad hitting team, they’re coming in almost hitting almost .300 as a team with a lot of veteran guys so what he did was really impressive, I’m happy for him.”
Caden Schmidt was 2-for-2 with four RBIs and two run scored, the junior right fielder giving La Salle a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in the first, hit a one-out single for the first of the Explorers’ five hits in the third then capped that inning’s scoring with a three-run home run to left center.
“I was just looking for a middle-in fastball and I got it,” Schmidt said. “My eyes started lighting up when I saw it out of the hand.”
Also in the bottom of the third, Matt Wambold connected on a bases-clearing double while Luke Borgmann and Andrew Bogansky both had two-RBI singles as La Salle (8-0, 5-0 PCL) sent 13 batters to the plate and did all of its scoring in the frame with two outs.
“I think getting guys on base, Aimon Chandler getting a couple walks and then changing the approach coming up,” Schmidt said. “Just setting back on it and driving it the other way.”
Cawley, meanwhile, allowed just two hits – a pair of singles – and a walk in throwing a four-inning shutout in his third start of the season.
“I was mainly going fastballs,” Cawley said. “But there were a few batters that I just threw off-speeds to, to mix it up a little bit but mainly fastball.”
In a 12-2 win over Haverford School March 29, the Fordham University commit went four innings, gave up no runs, one hit, walked two and struck out seven. He pitched five innings against SCH Academy April 3, allowing two runs – one earned – on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in a 5-2 La Salle win.
“Declan’s shown that potential this year and he’s been lights out,” Werman said. “We feel really confident on Monday down 6-0 (to Father Judge, a game La Salle rallied to win 8-6) putting Cav (Chris Cavalcante) in the game with a league game coming up on Wednesday because I feel really good that Declan is an ace in the league as well.”
Cawley bolsters a pitcher staff that includes returners Cavalcante, a 2024 third-team All-PCL pick committed to Old Dominion and Jack Pye, a William & Mary commit that earned league first-team honors last year as the Explorers won the PCL and reached the PIAA-6A final.
“I think the expectations are what they are every year, that we should compete at the top of the league,” Werman said. “And the onus is on us to play really clean and effective baseball.”
La Salle visits Holy Ghost Prep for a nonleague game 11 a.m. Saturday then is at Bonner & Prendergast 4 p.m. Monday.
Lansdale Catholic (1-5, 0-3) visits Archbishop Wood 4 p.m. Wednesday then hosts Devon Prep 2 p.m. Sunday.
Lansdale Catholic Jack Wichner started Wednesday’s game with a single to center. But the next Crusaders at-bat that did not result in a strikeout came when Dan Grosch drew a two-out walk in the fourth. Jake Benner followed with a single to center before Cawley kept LC off the scoreboard with a force out at third on a fielder’s choice.
“He’s got electric fastball but he’s spinning a slider and a changeup, he’s throwing changeups in there too,” said Werman of Cawley. “When you got three pitches for strikes, it’s hard for anybody to hit him. He’s going to be on a Division I roster a year from now and that’s going to be effective there too.
“And you saw the confidence he had and you saw the rhythm, he was in there, just pound the zone and he’s forcing them to respond to him and I think that’s what pitching is.”
Chandler began the bottom of the third with the second of his three walks. After Schmidt knocked a one-out single to center, Dan Murray’s groundout to first advanced the runners, with both scoring on Bogansky’s single to make it 3-0 La Salle.
Back-to-back batters getting hit by a pitch loaded the bases for Wambold, who belted a ball to center for a three-RBI double and a 6-0 lead.
Ronnie Raby reached on an error then Chandler walked to load the bases again. Borgmann’s two-RBI single extended the margin to 8-0 then on the next at-bat Schmidt paused for a moment on the bases before realizing his shot to left center had cleared the fence for a three-run homer.
“It was a barrel but the wind helped me out a little bit,” Schmidt said. “Didn’t see it go over.”
The Explorers ended the game by tacking on four runs in the bottom of the fourth, all four coming on bases-loaded walks.
In the bottom of the first, Chandler drew a leadoff walk but was forced out at second as Borgmann reached on a fielder’s choice. Borgmann’s courtesy runner Keegan Wade stole second and third then scored La Salle’s first run on Schmidt’s RBI sacrifice fly to center.
La Salle 15, Lansdale Catholic 0 (4)
Lansdale Catholic 000 0 – 0 2 4
La Salle 10(10) 4 – 15 7 0
WP: Declan Cawley 4 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 11 SO.
LP: Wack 3 IP 7 H 14 R 9 ER 4 BB 0 SO 3 HB.
2B: LS-Matt Wambold; HR: LS-Caden Schmidt.
La Salle: Schmidt 2-2, 4 RBI, 2 R; Wambold 3 RBI; Andrew Bogansky 2 RBI; Luke Borgmann 2 RBI; Aimon Chandler 2 R, 3 BB; Keegan Wade 2 R.
