The Holy Cross (4-0) and St. Paul (2-0) baseball teams have rode their explosive offenses to a combined 6-0 start so far this season.
The Crusaders have outscored opponents, 68-6, in their four games. Even if the highest scoring game is taken away, the 33-0 win over WCA in the season opener, Holy Cross’ average final score in the other three games is about 11.7-2. The Falcons have outscored their first two opponents, 21-2.
Holy Cross has had strong hitting up and down the lineup. Xavier Gonzalez has been a threat to garner both extra-base hits and stolen bases while Logan Bessette has been good for multiple hits and RBI each time out. That’s just the first two hitters in the lineup. There’s also Zack LaFerriere, Andreas Effes, Zak Morales and Dillon Fernandes, among others. There have been extra-base hits from multiple hitters in the lineup as the Crusaders have found the gaps in defenses and taken advantage.
St. Paul has clubbed four homers in its first two games, three over the fence at Naugatuck and one inside-the-park at Ansonia. Mario Izzo homered twice in the first game while transfer Joey Tonnotti added a dinger. Ryan Daniels legged out an inside-the-park homer to deep right center field at Nolan Field in Ansonia. Over the first two games, Izzo is 6-for-7 with two homers, three doubles and seven RBI. So far, there have also been multiple-hit games from Daniels, Cal Chance (twice), Brendan Foley, Steve Morelli and Jamie Leggett.
Oh yeah, good pitching doesn’t hurt, and both sides have that. Ash and LaFerriere combined on a no-hitter against WCA in the season opener for Holy Cross. Bessette gave up a single run and struck out 13 in a complete game effort against Ansonia. Logan Brown went four innings, gave up two runs and struck out eight against Crosby. Ash was solid for three innings against Derby.
Tonnotti scattered three hits over four innings and struck out nine for St. Paul against Naugatuck. In the 9-2 win over Ansonia, Tyler Kulik pitched the first 6 2/3 innings, gave up two runs on five hits and struck out nine.
For those who want to know, St. Paul hosts Holy Cross on May 4 at 4 p.m. That is the only regular season meeting between the teams.
Photo caption: The Holy Cross offense has come ready to hit in each game so far this season. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
