Eagles roll past Shady Side
By ASHLEY CHASE
MVI Sports
Serra Catholic baseball trailed early but immediately rallied to roll to a 12-3 victory over Shady Side Academy in Section 3-2A play.
Sophomore southpaw Zach Karp came in during a three-run first and relieved starter Max Rocco. Karp pitched a gem through the next five innings, not allowing a run and striking out six.
“It was good, I was hitting my spots. I stayed focused and tried to throw strikes. I think my curveball was on today, keeping my chest out and trying to stay out of the dirt. I wasn’t throwing too many pitches, I think I could’ve thrown one more,” Karp said.
Down 3-0 before their first at-bat, the Eagles started strong, with Dom DeMoss, Karp, Matt Bisceglia and Nico Eremic, all reaching and scoring to take a 4-3 advantage heading to the second.
“It gave us a lot of energy and excitement to show ourselves that we can come back,” said first baseman Dom DeMoss.
“That’s the sign of a good team,” said Eagles assistant coach Phil Cicco. “To go down that quick, have your starting pitcher come out and have to work into the ‘next guy up,’ see our guys immediately out and score runs, that’s what a good team does. We picked Max up today and he’ll pick us up another day. He had the no-hitter last week. It was nice to see us jump right back.”
Serra Catholic (8-0, 3-0) added a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead. They added to it in the bottom of the sixth, scoring six and ending the day for Shady Side Academy starter Josh Chu.
Joey DeMoss came in to pitch in the top of the seventh, striking out two to cement the victory.
The Eagles’ bats have been hot, scoring 12 or more runs in each of the last five games, and allowing no more than three runs. Six of Serra Catholic’s eight wins have come when the Eagles scored in double-digits.
“We’ve been on a roll the last couple games putting up a lot of hits, lot of runs. That’s becoming a strength of ours,” said Dom DeMoss. “I’m seeing the ball well at the plate. Working with (assistant) Coach (Dennis) Stitch every day has really helped.”
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