Baseball: St. Viator looking forward after a week to forget
St. Viator wouldn't mind hitting the reset button.
The Lions dropped all five games they played this week, including a doubleheader loss to visiting Marian Catholic on Saturday as their record fell to 10-9 overall and 1-5 in the tough East Suburban Catholic Conference.
"We do need a new week," said St. Viator coach Mike Manno, whose team has lost 6 in a row. "We just have to be mentally tougher."
The Lions made a couple of mistakes in their first-game loss to Marian Catholic (12-4, 4-2).
The Spartans loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first with two outs. But a pair of errors by the Lions led to 4 unearned runs. St. Viator managed just 3 hits in the opener and fell 5-0.
It looked better in the second game, when the Lions appeared on their way to ending their streak.
In the first, Mike Ragauskis singled and went to second on a fielder's choice on a hit and run by Jack Coney. Ragauskis then scored on Dan Sullivan's sharp single to make it 1-0.
It stayed that way until the fourth thanks to another strong outing by the Lion's Cole Kmet. But even his pitching couldn't overcome an error that enabled the Spartans to tie the game.
St. Viator took advantage of a Marian error to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Jack Sexton singled and stole second. He then went to third on a wild pitch and scored when the throw to third went into left field.
For the second day in a row, the Lions, who lost to Glenbard West on Friday night after leading late, failed to hold on. Marian Catholic scored 3 runs on a inning that began with an error and featured 3 Spartan hits. The Spartans went on to a 4-2 victory in that game.
Those kind of innings have been way too frequent this past week for Manno and his Lions.
"We are just shooting ourselves in the foot at this point," Manno said. "We are getting pretty good pitching performances out of our guys. A mistake here and there is biting us every time."
St. Viator opened the season with a very successful trip to Arizona, winning 4 of 5 games. And the Lions had been playing well at home up until this last week, when poor defense and lack of hitting caught up with them.
"It has really been that way the past two weeks," Manno said. "We take a lot of pride in this program in playing good defense, and right now that is really letting us down. And we are not hitting, and that is a big part of it too."
Kevin Napoleon, who was the opening game loser, said his team can climb back and get on top of its game.
"We are in a bit of a funk right now," Napoleon said. "But we know we can get out of it. We have to trust all the hard work we have put in coming into this season and know that it will pay off in the end."
Manno expects pitcher/catcher Shaun Falbo, who has been sidelined with a back injury, returning to the lineup in the next week. Manno, whose team soon plays ESCC leader St. Patrick, said his team will be able to right the ship before then.
"We have to stay positive and keep grinding away," Manno said. "Our ultimate goal is to do well in the playoffs. If this is the worst we can play, let's do it now before the playoffs start."