St. Dom’s South tosses six-hit shutout in rubber game

Adam South said he didn’t feel right throughout the day, but he could have fooled anyone watching him pitch Friday.

South tossed a six-hitter to lead St. Dominic to a 4-0 victory over Holy Trinity in CHSAA baseball.

“I was a little worried and then [in the] first inning, [catcher Kevin] Duffy threw out that kid at first, which was huge, and then from there, I just kind of cruised.”

He said he felt strong command of his fastball early and his curveball late to give the Bayhawks the rubber game of the three-game series after a walk-off loss the day before.

“We had to win this and win the series,” South said, “so I just think it was a big team win to boost the morale going into next week.”

South was involved in a pitcher’s duel early with Holy Trinity’s Thomas Crispyn.

St. Dominic (6-4) broke scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Mike Reda drove in Dan Smith on a first-pitch RBI single. Smith was pinch running for Nick Gulotta, who doubled the pitch before on a ball that might have cleared the fence if not for strong winds.

SEE PHOTOSHoly Trinity-St. Dominic baseball photos

“I was just looking for something I could drive,” Reda said. “Something I could get the head out and just drive.”

Holy Trinity’s Jahsiah Greene had a leadoff double to start the sixth inning, but South got back-to-back strikeouts before getting the inning’s final batter to fly out.

“I was just really impressed how he recovered and he got stronger as the game got more competitive,” said coach Jimmy Goelz. “We really like to see that out of all our guys.”

The Bayhawks added three runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by John LaRocca’s two-run single to left-centerfield on a 1-2 count to give St. Dominic a 3-0 lead. Jimmy Conway scored the fourth run when Liam McCutcheon reached on an error.

“He was throwing me a lot of off-speeds,” LaRocca said, “so I was up there, shortened up, moved up in the box a little bit and he threw a low fastball. I got the head out and drove it over the shortstop’s head.”

Scott pitched out of trouble in the seventh inning after allowing one-out, back-to-back singles to Holy Trinity’s Max Morrill and Sean Hogan. Goelz was worried he’d have to take his starter out and cost Scott the opportunity of a complete-game shutout.

“He just kept us right at that point where we were in between,” Goelz said. “The last two guys, that was his last batter, but he kept getting guys out.”