Two-out offense helps Archbishop Wood jump on Holy Ghost Prep

WARMINSTER >> It took a dedicated ground crew about six hours of prep work, but Archbishop Wood’s baseball field was deemed playable Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings made sure it would only have to hold up for a little bit. Wood’s offense caught fire as the sticks kept cashing in while the Vikings pummeled Holy Ghost Prep in a three inning 16-0 win.

Wood hadn’t played since Monday and had a big Philadelphia Catholic League game with Roman Catholic washed out, so getting out and playing a game was vital with a huge week of games coming up. To a man, the Vikings know they caught the Firebirds on a bad day, but there was plenty to like about Saturday’s show.

“It’s been rough, we just want to get out on the field,” Wood junior second baseman Joey Lancellotti said. “We have big league games coming up we need to prepare for. Ghost is a good team, with the weather I was a little nervous if we would get out here but Coach (Jim DiGuiseppe) sounded pretty confident so we all came out ready to play. I think we did a pretty good job and got our work in today.”

Every Wood run came with two outs on the scoreboard.

After pitcher Sean Hughes worked around a one-out walk to HGP senior Nolan Jones, a potential first round MLB draft pick, for a scoreless top of the first, the Vikings had two quick outs. Up came Lancellotti, who beat an 0-2 pitch into the grass on the third base line and hustled out an infield single.

That proved to be the single spark needed to set off an inferno. The Vikings sent 13 more men to the plate in the inning, the next 12 of them all reaching base and after a nine-hit frame, Wood led 11-0. Sean Kelly plated Lancellotti with an RBI double, Corey Dower had a two-run single and No. 9 hitter Bobby Heck deposited a three-run triple into no-man’s land in right.

Turning the lineup over, Ryan Logan had an RBI double, Kelly struck again with a two-run single, Mike Ferrara doubled in a run and Matt Cummiskey ended the onslaught with an RBI single.

“We were excited to get to play some baseball again after all the rain,” DiGuiseppe said. “Thanks to our field crew, Bailey Enterprises, they really did an unbelievable job getting this field ready for us to even have the opportunity. I’m real proud of our guys, from pitch one I thought our pitching and defense was solid and our offensive approaches were really good.”

Hughes again worked around a one-out walk in the second and then his offense again quickly picked up two outs. Lancellotti again came up with two down but this time, two men on base. Recently, the North Carolina commit hasn’t been seeing many pitches to hit and drawing a lot of walks.

In fact, he walked in his second at-bat of the first inning. But in this spot, after a high fastball, he got one and then he got rid of it, launching the ball over the left field fence for a three-run shot.

“I had a 1-0 count, he threw me a fastball first pitch and I figured when he got behind in the count, another one was coming,” Lancellotti said. “I sat back and waited on it and I tried to put a good swing on a good pitch and it worked out.”

Mick Pristas, running for Kelly, later scored on an error in right field and Cummiskey delivered another RBI single to plate Ferrara for the final margin. All nine Wood hitters reached base at least once and eight of the nine hitters recorded at least one hit.

Lancellotti was 2-for-2 with three runs and three RBI, Kelly was a perfect 3-for-3 with courtesy runner Mick Pristas scoring for him three times and Kelly also had three RBI. Cummiskey had two hits and two RBI, Heck drove in three and scored twice on a triple and walk and third baseman Sam Reynolds singled twice and scored each time.

“We talk to our guys about getting good swings on the ball, having good approaches and putting pressure on the defense to make plays,” DiGuiseppe said. “That’s been our offensive approach all year and we’ve been doing a pretty good job with it.”

Jones provided the only Firebirds hit with a double to the base of the center field fence off Kody Cracknell in the third, but Cracknell kept him there and got the last out to end the game.

Wood hosts Roman Catholic and Father Judge this coming week, along with a Saturday visit to Notre Dame, three major tests heading toward the PCL playoffs. Lancellotti said those games are the exact challenge the Vikings, the defending Catholic League champions, want at this time of year.

What the Vikings can take is the knowledge they won’t need to rely on one or two guys to do it.

“Some high school teams have a couple of strong players in the middle of the lineup that try to carry the lineup,” Lancellotti said. “I think we have good hitters 1-9 and that’s what carries our offense. Every kid hits and we have the confidence in every kid to put the ball in play.”