Bonner& Prendergast rallies to defeat WC Rustin

WYNDMOOR >> The main objective of the Bonner & Prendergast baseball team coming into Monday’s opening round PIAA 6A playoff game at LaSalle High School was to get West Chester Rustin ace hurler Kyle Kearns’ pitch count up, to get him out of the game.

The Friars finally accomplished their goal in the bottom of the sixth inning when Kearns hit the magic number 105 pitch count.

Bonner had a man on first with two out when Kearns had to leave the game in favor of freshman AJ Calio. The Friars then exploded for six runs on four hits and drew three walks as the Friars bounced back from an early deficit to beat the Golden Knights, 7-4.

Bonner moves onto Thursday’s second round against Bethel Park at a time and place to be determined while the Golden Knights season is over.

“The goal for us was to get his pitch count up and get him out of the game because he is one of the best pitchers around,” Bonner coach Steve DeBarberie said. “We did a good job with that because we loaded the bases twice. I would have liked to score more runs in those situations but he had to throw a lot of pitches. And I think our past state playoff experience helped us. We have a lot of juniors who have been starting since they were freshmen.”

The Golden Knights (14-11) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. David McClain led off with a single and went to third on a double by Bill Kraft, to put men on second and third with no one out.

Phil Martini plated McClain with a sacrifice fly and Brandon Mattei followed with an infield single, scoring Kraft to make it a 2-0 Golden Knights lead.

Rustin appeared to put the game away in the top of the fourth inning when the Golden Knights got a huge two run double by Drew Brown for a 4-0 lead.

With Kearns on the mound, it looked like the Golden Knights were a lock to go to the second round of the playoffs.

But the Friars (17-7) clawed back to get a run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Austin Cannon laced an RBI single to center field. Kearns left the bases loaded by getting Mike Coleman to strike out to end the inning.

The Friars again loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning, this time with no one out. Once again, Kearns left the bases loaded by getting the next three Friars out and Rustin had a 4-1 lead after five innings.

The bottom of the sixth inning saw Kearns get the first two Friars out. But, with Kearns nearing the 105 pitch limit, Coleman legged out an infield hit with two out and Kearns left the game in favor of Calio.

Calio walked Jaxon Kehoe and CJ Nocella to load the bases. The Golden Knights elected to intentionally walk Auburn University commit Kevin McGonigle to force in a run.

Then the roof fell in for the Golden Knights. Irv Fisher tied the game at 4-4 with a single up the middle. Harry Carr then put the Friars in front 6-4 with a two run single. Henry followed Carr’s hit with an RBI single and it was a suddenly a 7-4 Bonner lead.

“We just did not want it to end this early for our seniors,” Carr said. “I hit a high fastball a little inside and I got a good piece of it. We never give up and we have been in a lot of big games before and I think that helps us.”
Carr came in to pitch the top of the seventh inning for the Friars. Carr retired Blake Reaney on a grounder to second base for the first out. Carr then got Vince Hatton and Nick Covis to pop out and Bonner was moving on.

“This is a great group of kids,” Rustin coach Brad Harkins said. “We had just one All League player but we had a lot of guys that fought and clawed and played for each other and that is how you win baseball games. They have a lot to be proud of. and Bonner is a good team. They have a lot of guys that can hit the baseball.”
Bonner-Prendergast 7, WC Rustin 4
WC Rustin            020 200 0-4
Bonner-Prendergast   000 106 x-7
2B-Brown, Kraft. 3B-McGonigle
WP-Kehoe. LP-Calio

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