Viator makes quick start hold up at Prospect

A fast start beat a strong finish as St. Viator held off host Prospect 5-4 on Saturday in a nonconference baseball matchup.

Bobby Calmeyn had 3 hits and doubled twice as the Lions pounded out 10 hits and scored all their runs in the first 3 innings to hold of a late surge by Prospect.

"It was fun,"Calmeyn said. "We had batting practice this morning and we felt good."

St. Viator coach Mike Manno said his team has had fast starts all season.

"I thought the kids came out and executed early," Manno said. "I thought we got caught in the fourth inning and we kind of shut down after that. We have to keep adding runs, because against good teams - you saw how close it got at the end."

The game had major implications for state tournament seeding, for the state tournament which will be held Monday. St. Viator improved to 19-8 while Prospect dropped to 15-9-1.

"We wanted this to be a playoff atmosphere," said Manno, whose team is 6-0 against sectional opponents this season. "I think we put ourselves in a good position to get a good seed in the sectional. I think our sectional record should hold some weight."

Prospect had trouble with St. Viator pitcher Mike Piet. The senior left-hander, who improved to 4-1, kept Prospect in check until late in the game when the Knights' Tom Flahaven belted his second homer in as many days to make it close.

Piet, who struck out three while pitching his second complete game of the year, got great defensive support as well. The Lions turned two double plays and had diving catches in the outfield by Ben Dickey in center and Bobby Napoleon in left.

"The field played great today," Piet said. "It was a good all around game. It is easy to pitch when you get a nice lead like we had."

The Lions gave Piet that lead by having their best hitting day in over a week.

In the first, Matt Prazuch walked and stole second. He then scored on Bobby Calmeyn's double down the left field line.

St Viator added a run in the second thanks to some keen bunting by Joe Brandt and and Kevin Monson, who both reached base on hits. Brandt was able to score when Monson's bunt was thrown away.

The Lion knocked in 3 runs in the third to give Piet some cushion.

The lions loaded the bases on Calmeyn's second hit of the game, Pete Meyer's double and an intentional walk to Napoleon. Calmeyn then scored on a fielder's choice by Brandt, and Jack McNamara ripped a 2-run single to make it 5-0.

"We were up and needed some insurance," McNamara said. "I got on top of the ball and drove it into the gap."

Prospect was able to push a run across in the 6th. Jake Cavaiani singled for his second hit of the game, then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on Mike Piotrowski's infield single.

The Knights made it real interesting in the seventh. Trey Compton got his third hit of the day to put runners on first and second with two outs. Flahaven followed by blasting a ball over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the season to pull the Knights to within 1. But Piet got a flyball out to left to end the game.

"We have come out flat on Saturdays lately," Prospect coach Ross Giusti said. "I don't know why that is. Our mentality is to be very slow out of the gate and fall behind early.

"We didn't build on the momentum we had from Friday (an 11-1 win over Fremd). We have a lot of work to do before now and the start of the state playoffs."