Marmion falls in season opener

Lincoln-Way Central designated hitter Kevin DeMatteo couldn’t get a bunt down in Thursday’s opener against Marmion.

The Cadets wished he could have.

Rick Amaya led off the top of the fourth inning in a scoreless contest with his first career hit. DeMatteo failed to complete his bunt assignment so he swung away.

And did he ever.

DeMatteo blasted a 2-run home run to left field and the Knights held on to beat the Cadets, 2-1, at Joe Nardone Field in Aurora.

“I was surprised to see the bunt sign, but I was glad to come back and hit the home run after missing the two bunts,” DeMatteo said. “I just saw my pitch, a fastball middle in.”

DeMatteo did the damage against junior reliever Chris Simon (0-1) who had relieved Marmion ace Tim Tarter.

Held to a conservative early-season pitch count, Tarter, who has committed to the University of Illinois-Chicago, yielded only a pair of singles while fanning six in his three-inning start.

“I felt good,” Tarter said, “I wanted to get through at least three innings, maybe four, but didn’t want to push it.”

Marmion coach Dave Rakow was also pleased with Tarter’s first effort of 2011.

“I think he is going to have a very good year,” he said. “He got ahead of most hitter today and looked very sharp. I think pitching is going to be one of our strengths.”

Marmion (0-1) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth inning, but could have done more. Kyle Kozak doubled to open the inning and moved to third on a single by Tarter, who moved into second base on the throw into the cutoff man on the mound.

But with two runners in scoring position and nobody out, the Cadets were only able to score once, on a groundout by A.J. Friedman. The Cadets were on the brink of tying the game on a smash off the bat of Travis Siwiec, but Knights shortstop Evan Branyik made a fine play to end the inning.

Lincoln-Way Central (1-0) greeted Marmion junior Peter Bowe rudely in his debut in the seventh inning. After Bowe put two men on, Tyler Friel came on to hold the Knights. Friel yielded a sharp single to load the bases, but fanned a couple of hitters and got another out on a failed suicide attempt to keep the Cadets within a single run.

Siwiec led off the bottom of the seventh with a single but a strike out and double play ended the game.

Tarter led the Cadets offensively, reaching base all three times with a pair of hits, a walk and a stolen base. Siwiec added 2 hits.

Lincoln-Way southpaw Matt Mikolajzak scattered five hits and didn’t walk any hitters in his five innings of work to pick up the victory.

“It wasn’t a bad game and early on in the season you see a lot of errors and we didn’t see a lot of that,” Rakow said. “Early in the year the advantage is to the pitcher and I think that was the case today as neither team drove the ball very well.”