Baseball: Pluta pitches St. Viator over Carmel

St. Viator's Tony Pluta made it look easy Monday in Arlington Heights.

The junior picked up his first varsity win in a dominant performance as St. Viator crushed past Carmel 10-2.

Pluta, who had two no decisions in his first two starts, struck out 10 and walked one. He gave up a pair of hits in the first inning and the only run he allowed came in the third inning and was unearned.

"It was awesome out there today," said Pluta, who went 6 innings and threw 78 pitches. "My mentality was different today. I went out there to kill them and I did."

St. Viator coach Mike Manno was impressed with the right-hander, who has struck out 22 in his 11 innings pitched.

"That's two straight good outings for him," Manno said. "He is around the dish and throws hard. He has a nice hook. We feel pretty confident with him on the mound."

St. Viator (5-4-1, 2-1) used some small ball and also took advantage of 9 Carmel errors to pick up the win. Carmel (4-6, 0-3) made 6 of those errors in the fifth inning when the Lions plated 7 runs on just two hits.

"I told our guys, with all the wind, that the team who could limit their errors, would win the game," said Manno, whose team committed just two errors. "I thought our small-ball game was great. I thought the kids executed for the most part."

Casey Hintz had two hits for the Lions, including a bases loaded bunt single that drove in two runs.

"I just wanted to get the bunt down for the team," said Hintz, who drove in three runs and scored three times on the day.

"We played more as team today. We were able to execute and take advantage of their mistakes."

Ian Farrell, Chase Carroll and Nick Correna each had an RBI for the Lions, who will meet Carmel again on Tuesday.

Carmel coach Chuck Gandolfini returned last season to coach at Carmel, but when COVID-19 shut the season down before it even began, Gandolfini had to wait until this year to get things started again.

The Corsairs struggled last Saturday in a doubleheader loss to Marist, where Carmel also made a significant number of errors in both games.

"Not having all the practice time you need, plus not having these guys last year has been hard," Gandolfini said.

"I know how hard this game is. And I expect a lot out of players and I expect a lot out of their effort. I empathize with them. But you got to be able to field the ball."