By Drake Skleba

 

BURBANK – In the top game in the state, No. 7 St. Laurence rallied from an 8-1 deficit and shocked No. 6 St. Rita 10-9 Monday in a Chicago Catholic League crossover conference opener for both clubs.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, with the score tied at 9, St. Laurence junior right fielder Steve Fiorella took a two-strike curveball from John Starcevich (2-1) and blooped it into center, scoring NIU-bound Viking first baseman Tom Keating (3-for-4, HR, RBI, SB) with the eventual game-winning run.

 

“This was a great win for us,” said Keating.  “We are up in the dugout no matter what the score is and we were confident we could come back and win this game.”

 

Fiorella, who’s a spot starter when St. Laurence ace junior left-hander Kyle Wood pitches, took advantage of his opportunity, coming a triple short of hitting for the cycle. Fiorella doubled in the first run of the game for St. Laurence (12-1; 1-0) in the second to make the score 3-1 St. Rita.

 

Trailing 8-1 in the bottom of the third, Fiorella hammered a solo shot, the third home run of the inning for the Vikings, to close the deficit to 8-5. Wood started the Viking long-ball assault on St. Rita’s NIU-bond lefty senior starter Anthony Andres with a two-run bomb. Keating followed with a solo-shot to make the score 8-4.

 

“It felt good to get the homer that started our comeback,” said Wood, who connected for his fourth homer of the season. For Keating, it was his second and it was the first for Fiorella.

 

Back on April 3, St. Rita (9-3; 0-1) pounded the Vikings 19-9 in a nonconference game for St. Laurence’s only defeat of the year.

 

It looked like more of the same as St. Rita senior second baseman Kyle Stearns (2-for-2, HR, RBI, BB, 2 catcher’s interference) hit a 1-0 pitch from the Purdue-recruit Wood out of the ball park to lead off the game. Sophomore third baseman Stefano Belmonte hammerd his sixth blast of the year to make it 2-0 and Andres (2-for-4, 2 RBI) helped himself with an RBI single to put a three spot on the board for the Mustangs.

 

St. Rita added five runs in the third, highlighted by junior first baseman Joe Filomeno’s (2-for-3, 2RBI) two-run single. Andres would add another RBI single and senior left fielder Austin Bilotto contributed a sac-fly for the final run of the inning.

 

St. Laurence’s senior second baseman Joe Sadowski launched a two-run bomb in the bottom of the fourth to bring the Vikings within 8-7. Sadowski was on base four times for the Vikings, twice on walks and on a key hit-by-pitch in the bottom of the sixth.

 

“I look fastball and I was able to get one and drive it,” said Sadowski. “We knew we could come back and win the game.” The blast was No. 2 for Sadowski this season.

 

St. Rita added an unearned run against Viking reliever Nick Altabella to extend the lead to 9-7.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, Starcevich hit Sadowski and Wood to leadoff the inning. Keating singled to load the bases. The Vikings tied the game up on successive groundouts to first by junior catcher Charlie Naso (1-for-3, 2B, RBI) and senior third baseman Mike Chimera. Moments later Fiorella dropped in the single to give the Vikings their only lead of the game.

 

“I had an awful swing early in the at bat,” said Fiorella. “Starcevich threw a curveball that broke away and I was able to reach it and poke it into center for the game-winner.”

 

Viking senior closer John Rafferty retired the Mustangs in order with one strikeout to pick up the save for senior Kevin Dineen (2-0), who pitched a scoreless sixth for the Vikes.

 

“It was huge to come back and win this one,” said St. Laurence head coach Pete Lotus. “Kyle Wood and Tom Keating had huge homers to get the rally started. Steve Fiorella, who doesn’t get a lot of at-bats, did a great job for us. He’s a great athlete. Usually John Rafferty comes in with the bases loaded for us. That was a less-stressful inning for us, thank you.”

 

St. Rita suffers their second consecutive heart-breaking one-run defeat, having fallen 6-5 to Carmel on Sunday.

 

“Very simple. We can’t get anyone out,” said St. Rita head coach Mike Zunica.”Our pitching, which was our strength at the start of the year, is really struggling right now.”