Cardinals Advance to 2nd Round of Playoffs
Friday, May 18, 2018 – In a rematch of last year’s Championship, the La Salle Cardinals began the playoffs with a come-from-behind, 9-4 victory over Nazareth on Randall’s Island, to move into the double elimination round of the 2018 CHSAA Varsity ‘A’ Division Baseball Playoffs.
Two errors in the top of the first opened the door for Nazareth as they jumped ahead 3-0 before La Salle could even come to the plate but the Cardinals chipped away plating solo runs in the 1st and 2nd innings to cut the deficit to one going into the bottom of the third. In the fourth, La Salle took advantage of a Nazareth miscue, an infield pop-up that would have been the third out, fell to the dirt, and the Cards cashed in, scoring four on a two-run triple by Franklin Olivares and RBI singles by Jimmy Muniz and Gilbert Santos, Jr. The bottom of La Salle’s order was phenomenal going 9 for 11 with seven runs scored and six RBIs.
The offensive explosion made a winner out of starting pitcher, Julian Nieves who went 6 1/3 giving up 8 hits, 4R, 2ER with 8Ks and only 3BBs. Cristobal Rivera got the final two outs to eliminate Nazareth and push La Salle into Round 2.
NEXT UP:It’s the Double Elimination round of the CHSAA Playoffs as La Salle travels to the Bronx to face the #4 seen, Scanlan on Monday, May 21st, first pitch is 4:30pm.
