Baseball: Providence tops Brother Rice
By Logan Malloy For Sun-Times Media April 30, 2012 10:54PM
Ryan Koziol, of Providence, watches the ball drop for a two-run single against Brother Rice. | Gary Middendorf~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: June 2, 2012 8:17AM
Brother Rice somehow managed to get its field to playability Monday after an afternoon of torrential rain. It was Providence pitcher Zak Kutsulis, however, who better weathered the storm.
Kutsulis gave up a first-inning homer to Kevin Biondic (2-for-3) to put the Celtics in a 1-0 hole, but that’s about all the left-hander would concede. Kutsulis struck out seven and allowed four hits and zero walks to earn the 5-1 Catholic League victory over the Crusaders.
“I wasn’t going to get down on myself in the first inning for giving up the home run,” Kutsulis said. “I really had control of my stuff; all four of my pitches were working.
“My aunt teaches at Brother Rice, so this is a game I really look forward to. I was shocked when I heard it hadn’t been canceled (because of the rain).”
No. 2 Providence (18-6, 9-2) tied the game in the second when Kevin Tully singled in Kenny King after the latter’s leadoff triple. The Celtics added another run in the fourth, then three more in the sixth to put the game away.
Ryan Koziol, in his return to Brother Rice after transferring, was hitless in his first three at-bats, including two strikeouts, before ripping a two-run single in the sixth.
“Our situational hitting was not good today, but we did get some timely hits, including Ryan’s in the sixth,” Providence coach Mark Smith said.
Brother Rice starting pitcher Sean McGrath went 51/3 innings, striking out seven while allowing four runs. He also walked four and hit a batter. In all, Brother Rice (15-9, 6-4) dished out nine free passes.
“Our pitching was fine, but you can’t have those walks against quality teams,” Brother Rice coach John McCarthy said. “I was very impressed with (Kutsulis); we battled against him, but he’s one of the top guys in the state.”
