Father Judge puts Hammer to Archbishop Wood, clinches top seed in PCL playoffs

WARMINSTER >> Archbishop Wood baseball coach Jim DiGuiseppe was not at all upset about his team’s play Wednesday.

That may look odd, considering the Vikings lost 7-1 at home to Father Judge behind a stellar outing from senior ace right-hander Dan Hammer. But in terms of what happened on the field, the Vikings did everything their coach wants them to.

It was just one of those days that only adds to reasons why baseball is such a compelling sport.

“I told our guys I was proud of them and I thought we kept playing,” DiGuiseppe said. “Offensively we always talk about having good approaches and putting pressure on defenses to make plays. I thought we did that today. Out of 21 outs, we forced them to make 19 plays defensively. Sometimes, you’ve got to tip your cap to the other team.”

The win gives Judge at least a share of the PCL regular season title and the top seed in the league playoffs.

Hammer, who has committed to Pitt and threw in front of a handful of major league scouts Wednesday, was extremely efficient in throwing less than 80 pitches to get the job done. He stuck heavily with his fastball, topping out at 92 mph on the assembled radar guns and changeup, putting Wood in position to swing early.

After right fielder Ryan Logan led off with a single in the bottom of the first, Hammer got Sam Reynolds to ground back up the middle and the pitcher started a 1-6-3 double play. The defensive play was a sampling of what was to come, with the Vikings hitting 12 ground balls and Judge making the play on 11 of them.

Wood had few runners and when they did get on, Hammer only allowed three of them to advance into scoring position.

“I just tried to go right at them,” Hammer said. “The worst thing you want to do is fall behind because then you end up walking them and it all snowballs from there so it was all about getting ahead and working from there.”

Hammer likes to go to his slider and cutter as out pitches, but he noticed it was a little flat early in the game Wednesday, so he stuck with his other pitches and put the trust in his defense to make the plays behind him.

Crusaders DH Christian Lutz led off the second with a double and Judge then strung together three straight two-out singles to put a pair of runs on the board against Wood starter Sean Hughes. Judge got a third run in the third inning when Tim Ulrich hit a bases-loaded grounder deep in the hole at short and the Vikings had no play, allowing Hammer to score.

DiGuiseppe said Hughes did a good job of settling into the game and the junior escaped the third with no further damage despite having loaded bags behind him.

In the home half of the fourth, Wood put its best scoring chance of the game together when Joey Lancellotti hit a one-out single and moved to third on a double by Sean Kelly. But Hammer was able to come right back and get two straight ground balls to leave the runners stuck.

Kelly, the senior catcher bound for Mount St. Mary’s, continued his hot streak with the double and a seventh inning triple that led to Wood’s only run.

“I really think we played well as a team,” Kelly said. “We just couldn’t string hits together to score runs the way they did.

“With our (PCL) record at 9-2, this lets us know that we’re not invincible and now we have to bounce back and finish the season strong. I think this is actually pretty good we got this loss, this team is going to chip in right here and finish the season as strong as possible.”

Judge got three more runs in the sixth off of Hughes and reliever Kody Cracknell and then one last run off Cracknell in the seventh on an RBI double by Matt O’Connor. Judge just seemed able to put balls in gaps where anytime Wood made good contact, most of them went right to a fielder. DiGuiseppe said the only thing his team could have done was make a couple more plays in the field or a few more out pitches but it really was Judge making the plays it needed to.

Hammer maintained a good velocity throughout the whole game and didn’t shy away from any of the bats in Wood’s lineup. The senior said he was especially looking forward to his matchups with Lancellotti and got Wood’s second baseman two of the three times they dueled.

While he carries a quiet demeanor, Hammer was aware of the scouts and said he doesn’t mind pitching under critical eyes.

“I like that, it kind of boosts me up a little bit,” Hammer said. “It reminds me what my purpose is on the mound. You can’t worry about it too much and just try to win the game.”

After Kelly led off the seventh with a triple, an RBI groundout by Matt Cummiskey drove in courtesy runner Mick Pristas.

Wood returns to action Saturday with a nonleague visit to Notre Dame, then finishes league play at home against Cardinal O’Hara on Monday. The O’Hara is crucial because the Vikings haven’t clinched the second seed for PCLs yet,

“We did some things good today and came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard,” DiGuiseppe said. “We go at every game the same way. We go at it aggressively and focus on that game.”