St. Mary right fielder Brandon Geiger makes a diviing catch against visiting Smith Academy Monday night. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The St. Mary High School baseball team’s fabulous ride through the 2013 took a big left turn.
No. 5 Smith Academy upended fourth-seeded St. Mary 3-2 in a Western Massachusetts Division III quarterfinal, scoring three unanswered runs to leave the Whip City faithful in stunned silence Monday night at Bullens Field.
St. Mary (19-3) appeared to have the upper hand early, taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning and leaning on their strikeout king on the mound, Noah Parker.
Brendan Gawron led off the bottom of the second with a single, and Greg Geiger was hit by a pitch. Then the adventure began.
Jeff Hockenberry laid down a bunt that was booted nearly all the way to the backstop. Gawron attempted to score on the play as the infielders fell asleep, but catcher Cam Woodward finally track down the ball, ran to home plate, and tagged out Gawron a half-step before scoring. The craziness continued.
On the next play, pitcher David Longstreeth balked drawing the ire of Smith coach Jeff Pluta, who visibly vented his anger at the umpires. Pluta, surprisingly, remained in the game.
St. Mary remained focused as Brandon Geiger hit a two-out RBI to make it 2-0.
Smith (19-3) cut its deficit in half in the fourth with Christian Smiarowski’s two-out RBI single. They took the lead in the fifth with lead-off batter, Joe Afflitto’s bounding two-run single through the left side of the infield in the fifth.
St. Mary had numerous chances to pad its lead earlier and had opportunities to reclaim the lead late, stranding two baserunners in each of the third and fifth innings and leaving another on in the sixth.
Longstreeth kept St. Mary off balance at times with his off-speed pitches, and managed to paint the corners inside and off the plate. He allowed five hits through seven innings, struck out three of the four batters he faced in the sixth, and retired the side – St. Mary’s 2-3-4 hitters – to end the game.
Joe Lubanski pitched two innings of scoreless relief for St. Mary.
