PHOTO: PAULA MULLER
Fenwick pitcher Simon Gonzalez tossed a solid game in a loss to Austin Prep on Friday.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — After Bishop Fenwick’s Simon Gonzalez had done all that work to strike out Austin Prep’s Chris Gagnon with runners on second and third and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 2-2 game, what happened next seemed almost too cruel.
Friday’s game, the first of four this weekend at Fraser Field that aim to raise money for ALS awareness, ended in heartbreaking fashion for the 10-5 Crusaders when Gonzalez uncorked a wild pitch that scored Dan Monagle from third base with the third run in a 3-2 win.
While admitting it was a tough way to lose, Fenwick coach Kevin Canty was philosophical about it.
“We have to learn how to be in big spots,” said Canty, who has coached his share of big games while with the Crusaders. “We have a lot of young kids on this team, save for the four or five seniors who came back.
“We have a lot of kids who haven’t played,” he said. “They just have to go through this and learn how.”
Both pitchers were difficult to hit. Gonzalez gave up six hits in his seven innings of work while his counterpart, Andrew DeRoche, was even stingier, allowing only four.
“Both kids did very well,” Canty said. “Simon pitched great. That’s what seniors have to do.”
Fenwick grabbed as 1-0 lead on the second inning Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, went to second on a groundout, and scored on Ben Mogavero’s single to left.
That’s how it stayed until the bottom of the fourth, when Austin Prep (13-1) got two runs. Josh Bartnicki led off by reaching on an error and Brendan Barry followed with a double that put runners on second and third.
Pat Burke’s single to left scored one run, and Barry came home on Matt Clark’s grounder to second.
The Crusaders got the equalizer in the top of the sixth. With one out, RJ Libby hit a double to left and went to third on a wild pitch. Libby scored when Matt Townsend dumped on just out of the reach of right fielder Andrew Gerety. DeRoche was spared further damage when he induced Gonzalez to hit sharply into a 6-4-3 double play.
With one out in the seventh inning, Monagle hit one that went clear over the head of Libby in straight-away center field. In most other parks, the game probably would have ended at that moment, with the ball clearing a fence.
But at Fraser Field, it stayed in the yard and Monagle ended up on third with a triple.
Canty elected to walk catcher Peter Burns, a sophomore who has already committed to play baseball at Boston College. But he then chose to pitch to Gagnon, and that decision seemed prescient when Gagnon was caught looking on a called third strike.
However, on his second pitch to Gerety, Gonzalez bounced a curve that skidded by catcher Dave Furtaldo and Monagle came home with the winning run.
“Their pitcher threw strikes and our pitcher threw strikes,” said Austin Prep coach Steve Busby. “It was just a well-played game.”