Eagles claim invitational crown

By ASHLEY CHASE

MVI Sports

A walk-off win worth the wait. After 652 days, the Serra Catholic baseball team returned to the field in thrilling fashion, claiming the Serra Catholic Baseball Invitational championship at Pullman Park with a seventh-inning comeback for the ages.

Sophomore Ethan Coddington came up to bat with the bases loaded in a tie game in the bottom of the seventh and poked a shot into center field that the Lakers couldn’t handle, sending junior Max Rocco home to give the Eagles the 6-5 victory over Mercryhurst Prep.

“It was amazing. It felt like the top of the world, especially as a sophomore,” Coddington said.

The Lakers opened the game with a five-run first inning, chasing the right-hander Rocco in his first varsity start. Sophomore southpaw Zach Karp relieved Rocco and carried the Eagles through the fifth inning, before sophomore Matt Schanck closed out the final two innings.

Trailing 5-0, Serra Catholic put the bats to work and broke through with a three-run third inning. Frustrations kept coming, after a bases loaded opportunity fell short in the fourth, and inning after inning, baserunners were left stranded, thanks in no small part to Mercyhurst Prep starting pitcher, the 6-foot-6, 235 right-hander, Hayden Zaffino.

“That big kid pitched a gem, couldn’t hit him, he was throwing gas,” said Coddington.

Facing a 5-3 deficit headed to the bottom of the seventh against 3-inning reliever Alex Stefanovski, Serra Catholic didn’t back down from a fight.

Junior Matt Bisceglia chopped a ball back to the Lakers third baseman whose throw to first base missed and allowed senior Zach Miklos to score all the way from first base. Bisceglia landed at third and it was a one-run game.

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