PHILADELPHIA – Two recent Salesianum graduates provided some offense in the first inning for Delaware North, but the Delaware South pitchers were otherwise on point in a 7-3 with for the South in the 34th annual Carpenter Cup Classic baseball tournament opening round at FDR Park in Philadelphia. The South moves on to the quarterfinal round, while the North was eliminated.
Salesianum graduate Reece Bolton started for the North, and he set the South down in order in the first, the last two on strikeouts. The Sals continued their success into the bottom of the frame. Dom Ragazzo led off with a walk, and Jake Dunion followed with a booming home run over the 370-foot mark in left-center field for an early 2-0 lead.
The South pitching settled down after that. Starter Trey Matthews of Newark Charter retired nine of the 11 other batters he faced, allowing just a hit and a walk. He struck out five, and none of the other four outs left the infield. Dover’s Dom Velazquez was nearly perfect in his three innings of work. He struck out five and allowed just one baserunner. That was Saint Mark’s graduate Matt Sinko, who reached on an infield single with two outs in the sixth.
Matt Warrington of Sussex Tech threw the final three innings. He gave up two hits and walked one, but he also struck out four for a total of 15 strikeouts for the South.
The South’s offense, meanwhile, was more than enough for the win. Nathan Turner of Dover walked with one out in the second, moved to third on a double and scored on a groundout by Caesar Rodney’s Brandon Hatch to make it 2-1.
Chad Reichhold of Milford reached on an error to start the fourth inning. Nathan McCray of Lake Forest walked. Hatch singled to drive in Reichhold, and McCray would score on a wild pitch to give South the 3-2 lead.
Brett Callahan of Newark Charter got the offense started for the South in the sixth, singling with one out. Jason Shockley of Sussex Tech reached on an error to put runners at first and second. Caesar Rodney’s Ryan Rigby singled to plate Callahan, with Shockley moving up one base. At this point, Salesianum’s Alex Hinton came in to relieve Jon Hines of Delaware Military Academy. Hinton got the second out on a strikeout, but Shockley and Rigby executed a double steal, and Brett Lesher of Newark Charter drove both home with a single to right field. The score was 6-2.
Rigby walked in the eighth and moved to third on a single by Appoquinimink’s Mason Keene. Keene was thrown out at second on an attempted steal, but Rigby came home on the play for the South’s final run. Kyle Walker of Conrad opened the bottom of the eighth with a single for the North. He eventually reached third, then scored on the back end of a double steal.
Archmere’s Jack Nielsen came in to pitch the ninth inning for the North. He retired the South in order on three ground balls.
The other Catholic school products to see action for the North were Hayden Trimarco and Andrew Spychalski of St. Elizabeth, and Matt Phillips and Eric Ludman of Saint Mark’s.
The South will meet Inter-Ac/Independents on Friday at 12:30 p.m. on the Showcase Field at FDR Park.
