Larkin's first time out worth the wait
The wait was worth it for the Larkin baseball team.
The Royals were scheduled to play their home opener last Thursday against St. Edward, but a six-inch snowstorm three days earlier postponed the nonconference game until Wednesday.
Larkin looked hungry from the start of its later-than-planned season debut. The lineup collected 7 earned runs on 11 hits against three St. Edward pitchers and senior right-hander Will King fired a 1-hitter as the Royals prevailed 11-1 in five innings.
"It feels good to finally get out here and win," said Larkin No. 3 hitter Dan Lenz, who pulled a 3-run home run to left field in the second inning. "Great team victory and Will King threw really well for his first time out. Let's just roll after this one."
Had the game been played last Thursday as scheduled, St. Edward senior Jack Tierney would have pitched, coach Tim Dovichi said. Instead, Tierney pitched on Monday against IC Catholic Prep and struck out 13 in a 1-0 win.
St. Edward No. 2 pitcher Alex Lara threw a 4-hit complete game with 12 strikeouts on Tuesday in a 4-2 win over ICCP. Wednesday marked the first time this season the Green Wave pitching staff, depleted by a key off-season transfer and an elbow injury to Coastal Carolina-bound hurler Jake Lafrenz, needed a third starter.
Senior David Groves gave it a shot, but Larkin touched him for 5 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits and a walk that forced in a first-inning run. He was lifted after Denz went deep in the second inning.
None of the Green Wave pitchers were immune, nor were any helped by St. Edward's 5 errors. Reliever Nolan Theriault allowed 3 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits in 1⅔ innings. Mike Dazzo yielded 3 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits in 1⅓ innings.
"Pitching is our big thing this year," Dovichi said. "Monday and Tuesday we had 23 strikeouts between Tierney and Lara, but we're still trying to figure out who's going to step up and be that No. 3 for us. Right now we're still in a guessing came."
King was consistent throughout his 5-inning, 70-pitch performance. The third-year varsity starter didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, when Gino Domel doubled to the left-center fence to drive in Joe Martell for St. Edward's only run. Martell was earlier was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball.
King struck out 4 without issuing a walk. "It felt good to finally play," he said. "My fastball command was decent, I found my curveball late. The changeup wasn't really there, but it turned out I didn't need it."
Beyond the 2 fielding errors Larkin committed, coach Matt Esterino notiched some other imperfections despite the lopsided outcome.
"We've been stressing the fundamentals and it was good to get the first one out of the way, but there are a lot of things to clean up," he said, "little baserunning stuff, signs, things like that. It's always nice to ge a win, but we can always get better."