Baseball: St. Francis falls to Providence

Double plays were Providence's best friend Tuesday in the Celtics' 7-2 Chicago Catholic League baseball victory over St. Francis in Wheaton.

The Spartans hit into a pair of twin killings, ending the third and fourth innings, to squash any hopes of a comeback from an early 5-0 deficit.

St. Francis had defeated the two-time defending state champions 9-5 on Monday.

"We were able to beat them yesterday with timely hitting," St. Francis coach Nick Hall said. "We got five or six runs with two outs. Today was the opposite, we didn't get timely hits and they did.

"Double plays are a killer, especially with the bases loaded. But that is baseball. Providence is a good baseball team and they are well coached."

Starting pitcher J.P. Clifford was hurt by one bad inning, yielding four runs in the fourth. Included in that inning was an infield single and a bloop hit to right.

"We are playing the best teams in Illinois," said Clifford, when asked about playing in the Catholic League for the first time. "You see how good you really are. You just have to get through it. We've competed pretty well, just the past four or five games, we've had one bad inning. That happened today. I got behind in the count and these teams make you pay for it."

The Spartans scored both of their runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Foster Heise and Nolan Pechan.

St. Francis fell to 21-12 overall and 9-12 in league play.

"For those who are going on to play upper-level ball, this is a great stepping stone," Hall said. "This (playing in the top Catholic League division) is fantastic experience for the kids, it gets them better. We've been in a lot of games with some great ballclubs. And it prepares you for the state tournament."