Baseball: Providence shown playoff exit by Marist
By JOSH KROCKEY For Sun-Times Media May 30, 2012 10:54PM
Updated: July 6, 2012 9:36AM
Providence was its own worst enemy Wednesday in a Class 4A sectional semifinal at Andrew.
The top-ranked Celtics led 4-0 after one inning, but committed a bevy of mistakes thereafter in dropping a 9-5 decision to Marist.
“I’m not taking anything away from them (Marist), because they battled back,” Providence coach Mark Smith said. “But we beat ourselves today, and it’ll hurt.
Providence (28-8) entered the contest having won 13 of its previous 14 games. The Celtics also had beaten Marist 7-0 in the teams’ previous meeting March 26.
It appeared as though Providence would dominate again as the Celtics had six hits in the opening frame. The big blow was a two-run single by Kevin Tully that staked his team to a 3-0 lead.
Glaring mistakes, though, enabled Marist (27-11) to come back.
Four Providence pitchers combined to issue 10 walks and hit three batters. Six of those hitters eventually scored. The Celtics also committed four errors.
Such futility carried over to the offense as well. Though the final six innings, Providence collected just one run on four hits against Marist left-hander Mike Hearne, who tossed a complete game.
“I just had to get that hold because I knew we’d come alive some time,” Hearne said. “Our bats have been pretty good as of late.”
Indeed they were. Providence starter David Hearne, Mike’s cousin, was stellar through the first four innings, allowing just three hits.
Marist, however, posted four runs in the top of the fifth to tie the score and knock Hearne out of the game.
The RedHawks continued the onslaught with five more runs in the sixth off relievers Jake Godfrey and Cristian Ochoa.
“You learn real quick through the years it’s hard to advance in this single-elimination stuff,” Smith said. “You have to play well and this was the worst we’ve played in about a month.”
