Gaels finish another ‘special’ season as league champs
After the St. Maria Goretti baseball team beat Riverdale Baptist 10-0 in six innings in the Old Line League championship game Tuesday to finish the season 20-2, longtime skipper Greg Eversole couldn’t exactly say where this year’s Gaels rank on the all-time list of teams he’s coached.
But, he admitted, his program is becoming frightening.
“For this coach, being 73,” he said of himself, “every team is special, whether they win or lose. But winning like this makes it even more special. I just love them.
“We were 17-2 two years ago, we were 21-4 last year and now we’re 20-2, and they’re all back next year. It could get scary.”
On Tuesday, junior Andrew Kerns pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts as Goretti three-peated as league champion.
“I felt really good with the fastball, the curveball was on and the changeup was on, so I had all three pitches working pretty much the whole game,” he said.
The Gaels went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Will Oates drove the first pitch he saw over the fence in center field.
“It’s awesome to go up big fly 1-0 in the championship game, just awesome to do that for my guys,” he said. “And they turned it up behind me.”
Goretti extended the lead to 4-0 in the second on a two-run homer by Warner Harper and an RBI double by Oates.
The Gaels added a run in the fifth as Parker Sweeney doubled and scored on a single by Jacob Hill, the team’s only senior starter.
Goretti ended the game early with a five-run sixth. Garrett Gibson had two RBIs in the frame, while Ty Hames and Hill each drove in a run.
Oates and Sweeney each went 2-for-3.
Impressive hitting
Oates’ performance lifted his batting average to an impressive .607 as he finished 37-for-61 for the season.
“I got off to a hot start. I think I started off 15-for-18,” he said. “But it’s hard to keep that up. I came down a little bit, reality hit, but I just stayed the course through the season and trusted the work that I had put in and floated around that .550-.600 mark and then sealed it today. That was awesome.
“It’s been a fun season, really fun.”
Oates led the team in almost every offensive category, including hits, home runs (five), RBIs (32) and runs scored (34).
Remarkably, seven players batted at least .340 this season for the Gaels — Harper (.452), Gibson (.443), Sweeney (.436), Kerns (.400), Nick Petruzzello (.349) and Hames (.340), along with Oates.
“This season started for us in December with weightlifting, then we went to hitting in January and February,” Eversole said. “And our hitting shows. I think we hit the ball better than anybody in the county. We hit well, but it’s because of the work.”
Exceptional pitching
The Gaels also can pitch.
Kerns finished 5-0 with a 0.83 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings, Hill went 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 21 innings, Sweeney was 4-0 with a 3.74 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings, Gibson went 3-0 with a 0.57 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings, and Colin Fulmer was 3-2 with two saves and 19 Ks in 13 1/3 innings.
“It’s about being a team and doing what we have to do to win and play ball the right way,” Kerns said.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: St. Maria Goretti wins Old Line League baseball title
