By Drake Skleba

 

NEW LENOX – In a battle between two top 10 state powers, with first place in arguably the state’s toughest conference on the line, No. 10 Providence outslugged No. 4 St. Rita 11-8 on a beautifully sunny and windy Wednesday.

 

Led by the powerful bat and glove of junior third baseman Sam Travis, Providence (20-6; 12-1) took control of first place in the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division. St. Rita (22-4; 11-2) spotted Providence an early 8-1 lead and closed to 11-8 in the sixth inning with the tying run at the plate.

 

Providence came out firing in the bottom of the first. Junior LF Matt Trowbridge opened up the Celtic first with a double. Junior SS Joey Houilhan (3-for-4, 3 RBI) followed with a single. Travis launched a high-towering drive to right center. The wind helped Travis’ blast carry over the fence and the Celtics led 3-0.

 

“I definitely received some help from the wind on the three-run homer in the first,” said Travis.

 

St. Rita scored a run on an RBI single by Mustang senior LF Austin Bilotto off of Celtic starting and winning pitcher Collin McEnery (2-1)

 

Providence responded with a five run second inning. Houilhan drove home the first run of the inning on an RBI single. Travis didn’t need any assistance from the wind on his two-run double. St. Rita transfer junior catcher, Dan Potempa, closed out the scoring with a two-run single.

 

The Mustangs scored a pair in the third when junior first baseman Joe Filomeno launched a two-run bomb, his 11^th of the season, to bring the Mustangs within 8-3. Filomeno drove in his 45^th and 46^th RBI of the season.

 

Providence answered with a two spot of their own in the bottom of the third. Houilhan ripped his third consecutive single of the game, plating two more Celtic runs.

 

“Every year with Rita we have games like this,” said Houlihan. “I was seeing the ball well and had a good day at the plate.”

 

St. Rita answered in the fourth, on the first of a pair of two-run singles, off the bat of Mustang sophomore SS Zack Soria (3-for-4, 4 RBI) to close to 10-5.

 

In the fifth, St.Rita’s sophomore third baseman Stefano Belmonte hit his 8^th homer of the season.

 

In the top of the sixth, Mustang junior catcher Brian Sicher (2-for-3,2R, BB) singled to leadoff the inning ending the day for McEnery. Providence head coach Mark Smith called upon junior lefty Austin Vazquez to put out the fire. Vazquez fanned the first Mustang hitter he face and then gave up a double to Mustang senior second baseman Kyle Stearns (2-for-4, 2B) and the second two-run single by Soria and the fighting Mustangs were within three at 11-8.

 

Vazquez picked up the second out and then walked Filomeno to bring the tying run to the plate, the hot-hitting Belmonte. Belmonte crushed a Vazquez pitch toward Travis. Travis made a tremendous stop on Belmonte’s smash and calmly fired across the diamond to Celtic first baseman Nick Gould to end the Mustang threat.

 

“Belmonte really hit the ball hard in the sixth,” said Travis. “I was hoping he would hit the ball to me so I could make the play. It really worked out well for us.”

 

Vazquez dispatched St. Rita in order in the seventh and the Celtics were back on top in the Catholic Blue.

 

“I came in and did my job,” said Vazquez. “I threw strikes and got ground balls in the seventh. This was a good win for us.”

 

Junior second baseman Kevin DeFillipis had a single and a double for the Celtics and scored a pair of runs in the Celtic nine hole.

 

“This was definitely a hitter’s day. We jumped out with the big early runs driven in by Sammy,” said Smith. “We opened up the big 10-3 lead and lost a little of our aggressiveness. Rita is a great hitting team and they came back. Once again Sammy saved us his with his glove on Belmonte’s smash. Sam Travis is the catalyst of this team. … Austin Vazquez did a great job for us tonight as he did against St. Ignatius. We will need Austin to continue to be successful for us.”

 

Providence and St. Rita will meet on Saturday at Rita at 11. On Thursday, Providence will be at Catholic White leader No.9 St. Laurence (24-3; 12-2 White). St. Rita will travel to Brother Rice (19-7; 10-3) in a Catholic Blue showdown.

 

“We can’t come over here and give up eight runs in the first two innings,” said St. Rita head coach Mike Zunica. “We always battle at St. Rita. We never give up.”