By Drake Skleba

 

CHICAGO ? Eighty-nine minutes. That?s all it took No. 6 St. Rita?s junior RHP Eddie De La Riva to dispatch of No. 7 St. Laurence, 2-1, and pick up his 10^th win on the mound in 2011. De La Riva (10-0) scattered seven hits and was his toughest with men on base.

 

With the win, St. Rita (20-4; 8-3) stays in the hunt for the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division championship. St. Laurence (19-6; 9-3) falls into third place in the CCL-Blue, a half-game ahead of fourth place St. Rita.

 

On a beautiful sunny May afternoon, the two Catholic Blue powers had their respective aces on the mound. St. Laurence brought out its University of Illinois-bound RHP Charlie Naso, to match up with De La Riva, who?s verbally committed to Purdue.

 

St. Rita struck quickly, picking up a run in the bottom of the first. The Mustangs sophomore leadoff man, Connor McLain (2-for-3, run), ripped the first pitch from Naso into right field for a single. McLain would move to second on a quality sac-bunt by junior TJ Verdun, to third on a wild pitch and scored the Mustangs? first run on a sac-fly from junior C Zach Soria (1-for-2; 2B).

 

?This was huge for us after the loss to St. Laurence on Monday,? said McLain.

?I just did my job as the leadoff man and got on base for us. This is a big win for us. Hopefully, we can get some momentum from this win and get on a roll.?

 

St. Laurence would pick up an unearned run off of De La Riva to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning.

 

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Mustang DH Brian Sicher coaxed a walk out of Naso. Senior SS Nico Zych followed with a single, and Sicher moved to third and would score the eventual winning run on a ground out by senior 2B Jake Thome.

 

In the top of the sixth, the Vikings loaded the bases with one out on a walk and two Mustang errors. De La Riva then rose to the occasion by picking up a huge strike out and then getting the third out of the inning on a soft fly to right field. De La Riva mowed the Vikings down in order in the seventh to nail down this big Catholic League victory.

 

?I really focused for this game,? said De La Riva. ?My breaking ball was really working tonight. My arm felt really good out there for only having three days? rest since my last start. No ill-effects.?

 

St. Laurence hard-luck loser Naso (4-2), allowed just four hits. On Saturday, Naso just gave up three hits, in a 2-0 Viking defeat at first-place Mount Carmel.

De La Riva fanned five and walked only one in his complete-game victory.

 

?Eddie (De La Riva) was great on the mound for us today,? said Soria. ?This was a big win for us to keep us in the race. We?re going to take it one game at a time and come out ready to play.?

 

St. Laurence was led offensively by junior LF Mike Solofra, who had a pair of singles for the Vikings

 

?Eddie De La Riva gave us a great effort that we needed today,? said St. Rita head coach Mike Zunica. ?Eddie was in jams he didn?t deserve to be in and really pitched well under unwarranted adversity.?