NEWARK — Salesianum and Newark Charter were tied headed into the seventh inning of their DIAA baseball quarterfinal game on June 8 at Bob Hannah Stadium at the University of Delaware. The Sals apparently had no interest in bonus baseball, however, scoring five times in the top of the seventh on the way to a 7-2 win and a spot in a semifinal on Wednesday.
The Sals, seeded seventh, will meet No. 3 Caesar Rodney at Frawley Stadium at 6:30 p.m. The other semifinal will pit No. 8 Sussex Central against No. 5 Caravel at 3 p.m.
Salesianum took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Jack Bujnowski singled on the second pitch of the afternoon from Patriots starter Doron Griffin, moved to second on a two-out single from Landon Johnston and came home on a Brady Nabb single.
The Sals added a run in the fourth. Dylan Thompson (Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish) singled to right with one out, and courtesy runner Tai Wu was sacrificed to second. Hacim Martin continued a strong postseason with a run-scoring single up the middle.
No. 2 Newark Charter, which had runners in scoring position in both the second the third innings, tied it up in the fourth. Shane Connor singled to begin things, and Charles Beitman also singled. Courtesy runner Alex Burrows moved to third on the hit, and Beitman went to second on the throw to third base. A third consecutive single, this one from Isaac Marmon, scored one run, and Austin Ledoschuk made it four straight singles to start the inning, driving in Beitman to tie the score. The Sals got the first out on Ledoschuk’s single after a runner overslid third base, and Thompson got out of trouble with consecutive strikeouts.
Salesianum batted around in its five-run seventh. C.J. Moxley started the inning with a triple to the wall in left-center. Sean Luxton relieved Griffin and retired the first batter he faced before Johnston walked. Courtesy runner Finn Erickson stole second base, and he and Moxley scored on a go-ahead single from Nabb (St. Margaret of Scotland Parish).
The next batter, Brooks O’Hanlon, hit a hard chopper off the turf, beating it out for a base hit. Luxton got the second out on a fly ball, but Chase Holston walked to load the bases. Martin unloaded them with gusto, drilling a double to the base of the wall in left and extending the lead to five.
Jeremy Marandola took over on the mound for the Sals in the seventh, He allowed a one-out single, but a strikeout and a groundout to Moxley sent the Sals back to the DIAA semis for the third straight season.
Martin had two hits and four runs batted in, and Nabb had two hits and three RBI. Johnston had two hits and was on base all four times he batted. Thompson struck out four in six innings.
Three Patriots had two hits each: Connor, Marmon and Bigliani. Luxton walked all three times he was up. Griffin struck out five. Newark Charter wrapped up an impressive season at 15-4.
In another quarterfinal, No. 10 Archmere fell to third-seeded Caesar Rodney, 13-3. Shane Harding got the Auks off to a strong start with a first-inning home run, and Nick Schwartz had two hits for Archmere. All nine of Caesar Rodney’s batters had hits, including a home run for Jay Sanchez. The Auks, who reached the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2016, finished the season 13-8. They had just two seniors on the roster this year.
Photos by Mike Lang.
