O’Hara’s arms quiet Bonner’s bats in Catholic League opener

ASTON >> A few things must happen if Cardinal O’Hara expects to compete for a Catholic League championship this spring.
First, Liam Nihill must pitch like an ace. Despite inclement weather Tuesday at Maplezone, Nihill battled on the mound for 4.2 innings. No, the senior southpaw didn’t have his best stuff … but who does on a miserable, 40-degree afternoon in early April?

The bottom line is that Nihill struck out seven and allowed two runs on only one hit as the Lions defeated Bonner & Prendergast, 6-2.

You may excuse the free passes (five) because, in order to possess pinpoint control, Nihill would have required a pair of hand warmers.

Nihill kept the Friars at bay in the teams’ Catholic League opener … and that’s all second-year coach Tom Grandieri could ask for on April 3.
Nihill and relievers Brett Craskey and Bryan Pazulski combined on a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

This year, the Lions must be patient at the plate, too. They walked eight times against Bonner pitching, so that’s a big plus. And for the Lions to have sustainable success, speedster Jimmy Beaky has to be a tablesetter when he’s hitting leadoff. He did the job Tuesday when he reached base four times on a triple, two walks and a hit by pitch.

Beaky’s three-bagger to begin the top of the sixth inning ignited O’Hara’s offense. Beaky couldn’t stick the landing on his way to third base, but the exciting play was enough to hype the Lions bench … notwithstanding the awkward head-first slide.

“It’s the same old, same old every game — we try to get a win. We came off the bus with high energy … and the first pitch we were off,” said Beaky, who manned centerfield. “It’s nice to be at leadoff. I was batting ninth the game before and we changed it up a little bit today. It was nice to get a big hit and get things started.”

Beaky scored when pinch hitter Tommy Gahagan ripped a line-drive single to left field. Gahagan moved up on two wild pitches, then scored on a throwing error by catcher Matt Shepherd. In his next trip to the plate, Beaky absorbed a pitch to his rib cage to drive in O’Hara’s sixth and final run.

“This was a good team win for us,” Grandieri said. “I have a rational confidence in all of our guys this year. Liam is our lynchpin on the mound, and he sort of sets things up for the rest of our pitching staff. It’s hard to have your best stuff on a 40-degree day, but he gave us some tough innings today.”

Nihill went head-to-head with his cousin, Jason, who is the younger brother of two-time Daily Times Girls Basketball Player of the Year Hannah Nihill. Liam struck out Jason to squash a Bonner & Prendie threat in the bottom of the first, but Jason worked a four-pitch walk against Liam in his next AB.

O'Hara's Liam Nihill gets the best of his cousin and limits the damage. Bonner 1, O'Hara 0 end 1st pic.twitter.com/9Fa2v5yiqo

— Matt Smith (@DTMattSmith) April 3, 2018

“It was the first time we ever faced,” Liam said. “We haven’t been on (different teams) before now.”

Bonner scored single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. A passed ball enabled Matt Headley to sprint home from third base to give the Friars a 1-0 advantage. In the third, Shepherd poked a single through the hole at second base, scoring Nate Furman, who walked three times out of the leadoff spot.

Nick Kutufaris (2-for-3, RBI, walk) hit a single to drive home Pazulski, who started at third base, for O’Hara’s first run in the fourth inning. Bonner & Prendie start Matt Maselli pitched out of further danger by retiring Beaky and Stephen Swanick.

Maselli ran out of gas and reached his pitch limit in the fifth, when Jim White reached base on a walk and scampered to third on a double by catcher Dan Hopkins. Mike Standen came on in relief and got pinch hitter Zach Fidelibus to hit a soft tapper to shortstop Furman, who airmailed a throw to first base, allowing Hopkins to score the go-ahead run.

White, an All-Delco last season, walked in all four plate appearances for the Lions and made a sensational diving play at shortstop to start a 6-4-3 double play. Pazulski added two singles and Luke Sprague reached base on a walk and hit by pitch.

“It’s always a good feeling to come out and beat Bonner,” Liam Nihill said.