By Sean Duncan

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS - It didn’t begin well for Carmel right-hander Jimmy Spagna, but he certainly finished with a flourish.

St. Viator opened the bottom of the first inning with four consecutive hits and four runs before the first out was recorded Monday. But Spagna somehow settled down, made a mechanical adjustment on the fly, and limited St. Viator to only two hits the rest of the way. The Corsairs’ high-powered offense took care of the rest, as No. 11 Carmel eventually cruised to an 11-4 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.

“The first thing I thought of after the game was that was a very courageous effort by Jimmy,” said Carmel coach Joe May. “It was very resilient on his part to come back and pitch like that.”

Spagna (3-0) was nearly perfect after the first inning. His complete-game effort included six hits, no walks and three strikeouts to keep Carmel (18-4, 9-0 ESCC) unbeaten in conference. Using an 84-85 mph fastball, changeup and sharp curveball, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound unsigned senior faced only three batters in five of the last six innings.

 

“The first inning I started out and didn’t stay on my backside,” said Spagna, who also went 3-for-5 with a double. “After that, I settled down and stayed back. … And I knew we could hit our way back.”

 

St. Viator (13-9, 5-4) led 4-3 before the Corsairs erupted for four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to put the game away. Carmel’s potent three-through-five hitters of Spagna, senior DH Paul Poirier and senior first baseman Chris Divarco did most of the damage. The three combined to go 9-for-14 with six RBI.

 

Poirier ignited the fifth-inning outburst with a two-run homer and finished 3-for-5 with four RBI. Divarco, a Northern Illinois recruit, celebrated his 18^th birthday with a 3-for-4 day that included a double and two RBI. Divarco’s RBI double was part of Carmel’s five-hit sixth inning that saw seven consecutive Corsairs reach base. The 6-foot-4 Divarco has been one of the state’s hottest hitters this season. Coming into the game Divarco was hitting .680 with nine home runs and 30 RBI.

 

“I’m just trying to keep consistent,” said Divarco. “I’m seeing the ball really well right now. I’m not trying to hit home runs, just a real consistent swing.”

 

Said May of his first baseman: “Divarco is just unconscious right now.”

 

Kyle Bessa and Brian Serio also had two hits, and senior shortstop Mike Pudlo added a two-run single in the fifth. Senior outfielder Derek Jordan reached base three times on St. Viator errors and scored two runs. St. Viator committed five errors in the game.

 

The Lions certainly looked like they were going to hand Carmel its first conference loss. Sophomore left fielder Jack Czeszewski (2-for-3) laced the Spagna’s first pitch for a single. Julian Sipiora followed with a single before junior catcher Cory Kay (2-for-3) crushed a two-run double. Senior right fielder Kevin Gannon followed suit with a run-scoring triple, and scored on David Alameda’s groundout to make it 4-2.

 

“Every game I think we score in the first inning, but we can’t hold leads,” said St. Viator coach Mike Manno, whose team has lost three conference games in the seventh inning. “We score a lot early and then I don’t know what it is.”