SHP Shuts Down Knights

By Nathan Mollat - Daily Journal Staff
Sacred Heart Prep 10, Hillsdale 1
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The Sacred Heart Prep baseball team already has a pair of well-known, well-entrenched starting pitchers in seniors Dominic Cacchione and Angelo Tonas.

Cacchione is committed to play at Arizona State, while Tonas is going back east to play at Georgetown.

Wednesday, a third member of the rotation pushed his way into the conversation of best pitcher on the team. Nate Fleischli, a junior, was nearly unhittable and the offense got rolling early as the Gators remained the only undefeated team in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play as they routed Hillsdale, 10-1, in Atherton.

“It was just good baseball all the way around,” said SHP manager Anthony Granato. “You never know with a (spring) break what [the players’ mindset] is going to be like.”

SHP (4-0 PAL Bay, 13-3 overall) appears to be locked in as the second half of the league season gets back into full swing next week. The Gators kept things sharp by playing in the Bellarmine Easter Tournament last week where Fleischli showed signs of things to come by tossing a two-hitter in a 2-1 loss to Salinas.

A week later, Fleischli was on the mound again and it was deja vu for SHP as he shut down the Hillsdale bats, doing his start last week one better by allowing just one hit in 5 2/3 innings of work.

“He’s got tremendous downhill angle (on his pitches),” Granato said. “When he gets ahead, he’s a tough guy to hit.”

Fleischli was so dominant most thought he was working on a no-hitter, forgetting a first-inning bunt by Hillsdale’s Drew Aspillera that was misplayed into a hit when the first baseman fielded the ball but was beaten to the bag by Aspillera.

Fleischli more or less cruised the rest of the way before he was lifted after just 87 pitches with two outs in the sixth and the Gators leading 10-0.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Granato said.

With Fleischli locking down the Knights, it allowed the SHP offense the time to find its groove. The Gators would finish with 10 runs on 10 hits, and while they banged the ball around the park later in the game, the Gators rode some timely hitting to take control of the game in the second inning, scoring four times on just two hits. With one out, Eric DeBrine reached when he beat out a dribbler up the first-base line. He stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Kyle Cody groundout. Jack FitzSimons was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base — Ryan Freire had drawn a walk prior to Cody’s RBI — and both runners came home when Jack Donnelly lofted an opposite-field triple to right. Donnelly would then score on wild pitch to put the Gators up 4-0.

“The two staples of baseball are pitching and defense. Offense comes and goes,” Granato said. “It’s important to know in those situations … to take what the game gives you.”

From there, SHP added on every inning. In the third, DeBrine crushed an RBI triple to the right-center field gap to drive in John McGrory, who had reached on a fielder’s choice. DeBrine would then scamper home on Freire’s single to center to put the Gators up 6-0.

Two more runs were scored in the fourth when McGrory dumped a bloop single into no-man’s land in shallow left-center field as the Knights’ shortstop, left fielder and center fielder all failed to get to the ball. Yianni Gardner and Reece Lindquist, who had both singled, scored on the play to give SHP an 8-0 lead.

Gardner then punctuated the victory with a two-run double in the fifth, plating FitzSimons and Donnelly, who had both singled ahead of Gardner.

Hillsdale (2-3, 10-5) scratched out a run in top of the seventh off SHP reliever Parker Isaacson. Tommy Karpishin, who got the start and the loss for the Knights, led off the inning with a walk before stealing both second and third base. He would come home on Jeremy Chong’s bunt single.

With the Bay Division getting back to a full schedule after spring breaks over the last three weeks, now is the time for teams to start making a move. Granato believes his team is ready to start ramping up for a race for the Bay Division title, while also gearing up for the playoffs.

“High school baseball is more of a roller-coaster ride,” Granato said. “Now’s the time, as a team, we should click on all cylinders.

“I like where we are right now.”
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Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12