Baseball: Boches, sub Lafferty lift Wood
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 6, NEUMANN-GORETTI 1
Boosted by another solid effort from ace righthander Scott Boches and a clutch fill-in effort by sophomore Nick Laffety, Archbishop Wood kept its season alive with a 6-1 triumph over visiting Neumann-Goretti Monday afternoon in a Catholic League, elimination-round playoff.
Boches went the distance, notching a five-hitter with eight strikeouts. And Laffety, taking over at catcher when senior John Santospago departed due to a third-inning injury, contributed a two-run double in the fifth.
Boches, a Marist commit who continued to confound with his curveball, threw 112 pitches, with 74 for strikes. The Saints' only run, in the third frame, was unearned.
The Kent State-bound Santospago went down with an apparent groin injury on a third-strike pitch to N-G's Brian Verratti. He stayed on the ground for a few minutes, was looked at a by a trainer in Wood's dugout, and then taken to a nearby hospital by his mother.
Lafferty was Boches' batterymate the rest of the way. In the fourth, his sacrifice bunt with none out, moved runners to second and third. On an 0-1 pitch to Brett McCrossen, N-G lefty Pat Doudican was called for a balk. On the following pitch, McCrossen produced an RBI double to right-center to give Wood a 3-1 advantage.
In a three-run fifth, Lafferty, who trains with Saints skipper Mike Zolk, plated Mandes (RBI double) and Joe Santospago (walk) with a double to deep left field.
In another elimination-round matchup, the Vikings will face Archbishop Ryan, a 2-0 winner Monday over Bonner-Prendergast, at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday in Warminster.
John Santospago gave Wood a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single to center, plating leadoff man Erik Bowren (single).
Doudican lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving way to Joe Kinee after Mandes' double.
For N-G in the third, after Charlie Verla reached base on a throwing error, Nick Simon doubled off the middle of the left-field fence. With one out, Verla scored on Joey Glennon's groundout to shortstop.