Iona Prep10

The Mount5

About the only thing John Fitzpatrick and Collin Mahoney could agree on was that it was a fly ball.

In the top of the seventh of yesterday’s CHSAA playoff game at Fordham University, Iona Prep’s Fitzpatrick lifted a fly ball to deep left field. Prep had seemed in full control of the game with a 7-1 lead, but a four-run Mount St. Michael fifth brought them close at 7-5.

“I didn’t think it was out at first,” Fitzpatrick said. “I saw [Mount left fielder] Marshall [May] settle under it and then it was out.”

And so were the Mountaineers. Fitzpatrick’s three-run blast gave Prep a five run cushion and it won 10-5. The Gaels (21-6) advance to tomorrow’s intersectional semifinals, where they will face Xaverian. Prep will have to beat the Clippers twice in a row to get to Thursday’s championship game, while one loss will send it packing.

Still, as soon as Mount’s Collin Mahoney saw Fitzpatrick’s shot, he knew his team wouldn’t have that opportunity.

“Fitzy’s homer was an absolute killer,” said Mahoney, Mount’s star catcher, who is expected to be taken in the top rounds of Tuesday’s amateur baseball draft. “As soon as he hit it, I knew it was out. I said a couple of words I shouldn’t have said. I don’t know what he’s talking about that he didn’t know it was out. The only question was whether it would just get out or if it would be a few rows up in the bleachers.”

Either way, it took away whatever life remained in the defending champions, who finished 25-4.

“Before that, I thought we could get a couple of hits and runs and come back,” Mahoney said. “In other games, you’re down and you know you can’t come back, but this was different. Then he hit the home run, I knew it was over.”

It may have been over as soon as Prep’s Chris Scelsi entered the game in the fifth inning. The Gaels were without their best pitcher, Brian Fitzpatrick, who is also one of the best golfers in the area. He was in New Mexico at a golf tournament and won’t return until today.

Head coach Fred Gallo went with Jeremy Knox, who threw four solid innings before tiring in the fifth, although he wasn’t helped by his teammates’ sloppy fielding in that frame. After four runs had scored and a runner was on second, Gallo summoned Scelsi, who struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning.

Scelsi went on to pitch two more innings and gave up just a single to Mahoney.

“That’s what a reliever has to do,” Scelsi said. “But John’s hit made it a lot easier for me. That was huge.”

A pair of Mount errors led to four runs in the second inning for Iona, a hole the team could not get out of, much to the dismay of catcher Mahoney.

“I was hoping we could string a couple more wins together and have a Cinderella season like we did last year,” said Mahoney, who has signed with Clemson. “It’s a shame to close the season out like this today, but it was going to happen sooner or later.

“This hurts. I didn’t think it would hurt this much,” Mahoney said.

And while Iona was certainly pleased with the victory, the players aren’t satisfied yet. They want to get past Xaverian to play for a title.

“We beat them in Florida,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we know we can do it. Mount beat us pretty bad the last time out [14-1] and a lot of people didn’t think we could handle them, since they were the best. Now we beat them, so we think we can keep going.”

They will find out soon.