By Press-Telegram staff Writer - Dave Werstine
LONG BEACH - Over the past three years, the St. Anthony High baseball team has been eliminated from the CIF Southern Section playoffs in the opening round. Coach Roger Penticoff believes that run of misfortune can be blamed on his team being nervous.
After the Saints put together a great regular season and a 10-1 victory over St. Margaret's in the first round of the Division VI playoffs on Friday afternoon at Guesno Field, other teams should be nervous about playing them this postseason.
"We finally got the monkey off our back," said standout pitcher Jeff Curran, who threw a complete-game two-hit shutout to improve to 12-1 this season. "We are more confident (than in years past). I think we are capable (of going far in the playoffs) if we don't get nervous."
St. Anthony (22-3), which will face Capistrano Valley Christian in the second round Tuesday, had anything but the jitters Friday, pounding out 11 hits for 10 runs at the plate and playing nearly flawless in the field behind ace pitcher Curran.
"We didn't hit as well as we can today," said Penticoff, whose Santa Fe League champions came in averaging .407. "If the kids can come out and hit and pitch like they can, I like our chances. We are a senior-heavy team (seven seniors). This is their year."
The Saints drilled the ball all over the park against Tartans starter Marcos Avila, who gave up seven runs and eight hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a pair of errors.
St. Anthony struck for two runs in the bottom of the first, Andrew Popkin's two-out double scoring Ricky Ramirez and Robert Yates.
Yates poked a two-out, two-run double down the first-base line in the second to plate Nick White and Eric Joseph, and back-to-back two-out RBI hits by Carlos Reveles and Ramirez and an unearned in the third inning chased Avila.
By the end of the third, all but one Saint had reached base. Armed with a 7-1 lead, St. Anthony didn't put the bats away against reliever James Travis. The Saints, who scored in every inning except the fourth, made it 9-1 in the fifth as Reveles scored on a wild pitch and Curran drove in White. Olivier Schmidt capped the scoring with a solo homer of right-center.
The run production was way more than enough for Curran, who dominated after allowing a run on two walks, a pair of wild pitches and an error. He closed the inning with a pair of strikeouts, made it four in a row with two more in the third and struck out three more in the fourth. The state's third-leader in strikeouts finished with 10 to move to 151 on the season.
"It was not his best game today, but he was good enough to win," Penticoff said of Curran, who only allowed a lead-off single in the first and a one-out single in the fourth. "It's almost like he has to go through some adversity to get pumped up and start throwing. After that (second inning), they almost didn't have a base runner."
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GOOGLE: 25925 Camino Del Avion, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675-4302
for location of Capo Valley game at "San Juan Sports Park"
.
.
LONG BEACH - Over the past three years, the St. Anthony High baseball team has been eliminated from the CIF Southern Section playoffs in the opening round. Coach Roger Penticoff believes that run of misfortune can be blamed on his team being nervous.
After the Saints put together a great regular season and a 10-1 victory over St. Margaret's in the first round of the Division VI playoffs on Friday afternoon at Guesno Field, other teams should be nervous about playing them this postseason.
"We finally got the monkey off our back," said standout pitcher Jeff Curran, who threw a complete-game two-hit shutout to improve to 12-1 this season. "We are more confident (than in years past). I think we are capable (of going far in the playoffs) if we don't get nervous."
St. Anthony (22-3), which will face Capistrano Valley Christian in the second round Tuesday, had anything but the jitters Friday, pounding out 11 hits for 10 runs at the plate and playing nearly flawless in the field behind ace pitcher Curran.
"We didn't hit as well as we can today," said Penticoff, whose Santa Fe League champions came in averaging .407. "If the kids can come out and hit and pitch like they can, I like our chances. We are a senior-heavy team (seven seniors). This is their year."
The Saints drilled the ball all over the park against Tartans starter Marcos Avila, who gave up seven runs and eight hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a pair of errors.
St. Anthony struck for two runs in the bottom of the first, Andrew Popkin's two-out double scoring Ricky Ramirez and Robert Yates.
Yates poked a two-out, two-run double down the first-base line in the second to plate Nick White and Eric Joseph, and back-to-back two-out RBI hits by Carlos Reveles and Ramirez and an unearned in the third inning chased Avila.
By the end of the third, all but one Saint had reached base. Armed with a 7-1 lead, St. Anthony didn't put the bats away against reliever James Travis. The Saints, who scored in every inning except the fourth, made it 9-1 in the fifth as Reveles scored on a wild pitch and Curran drove in White. Olivier Schmidt capped the scoring with a solo homer of right-center.
The run production was way more than enough for Curran, who dominated after allowing a run on two walks, a pair of wild pitches and an error. He closed the inning with a pair of strikeouts, made it four in a row with two more in the third and struck out three more in the fourth. The state's third-leader in strikeouts finished with 10 to move to 151 on the season.
"It was not his best game today, but he was good enough to win," Penticoff said of Curran, who only allowed a lead-off single in the first and a one-out single in the fourth. "It's almost like he has to go through some adversity to get pumped up and start throwing. After that (second inning), they almost didn't have a base runner."
.
GOOGLE: 25925 Camino Del Avion, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675-4302
for location of Capo Valley game at "San Juan Sports Park"
.
.