Elvin Soto is at the University of Pittsburgh. Kevin Martir is at Grand Street Campus. And Xaverian is still the best team in the CHSAA.
The Clippers proved that unequivocally by routing St. Raymond, 12-0 win in five innings, in the CHSAA Class AA seeding tournament final Sunday at Richmond County Youth Complex on Staten Island. Soto might have graduated and Martir may have transferred to Grand Street. Yet here’s Xaverian again in the same spot it was last year – the top seed in the championship round of the CHSAA playoffs.
“We worked twice as hard, because we lost all those great players,” Clippers starter John Pena said. … “We keep playing the way we’re playing and we’ll be fine.”
Pena threw four hitless innings and Julian Lanfranco went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Xaverian (18-1), which now faces the lowest possible seed coming out of a third-round, best-of-three series Wednesday in the opener of the championship round. The Clippers were also the top seed heading into the eight-team, double-elimination portion of the playoffs when they won the intersectional title last year.
“This year, all the seniors stepped up big and showed the juniors how to do it,” Lanfranco said.
Zach Candelaria, one of the catchers who has taken over for Martir, had an RBI single to begin the scoring in the second inning off St. Raymond starter Brian Paulino. George Washington-bound third baseman Eric Kalman drove in Lanfranco with a ground out in the third and Xaverian got three more in the fourth, the big hit Lanfranco’s two-run double.
Paulino lost his control in the fifth and reliever Adam DeLaCruz had the same issue. St. Raymond (13-5) walked nine Xaverian batters in total. Sal Taormina drove in Kalman with the walk-off run in the fifth inning of the mercy-rule victory. The big first baseman also had the walk-off hit Saturday against Fordham Prep.
“We’re very confident now,” Lanfranco said. “This was a big motivation for us.”
The blowout loss didn’t make St. Raymond coach Marc DeLuca happy, but at the end of the day his team still remains the No. 2 seed in the championship round of the CHSAA playoffs. The Ravens beet Moore Catholic in the first round Wednesday. They’ll also play this Wednesday in the championship round opener.
“Once we leave here, we’ll put it behind us,” DeLuca said. “We have to have a short memory.”
At first, Xaverian coach Lou Piccola wasn’t pleased with how the seeding round worked out, his team having to play two days in a row this weekend due to rain pushing back a Fordham Prep-Iona Prep tiebreaker. Pitching was his concern, but ace Blaise Scerbo only went four innings in a win Saturday. Pena did the same on Sunday and he should be fine to come back Thursday on three days rest. Tommy Anselmo pitched a scoreless fifth.
“We got put in a situation we shouldn’t have been put in,” Piccola said. “But it worked out.”
Just like last year. Xaverian is the favorite once again.
“We have the best pitching staff in the city,” Pena said. “We have the complete team to do it.”
