Hawks move on to Final Four with win over Rams

Matt Metcalf
Posted 6/11/15

La Salle will be happy to see Anthony Cofone’s Hendricken baseball career come to an end in the coming weeks.

The senior right-hander hurled another gem against the Rams on Monday, going the …

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Hawks move on to Final Four with win over Rams

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La Salle will be happy to see Anthony Cofone’s Hendricken baseball career come to an end in the coming weeks.

The senior right-hander hurled another gem against the Rams on Monday, going the distance in a 4-2 Hendricken win that earned the Hawks a berth in the Final Four, marking the second time in as many years that Cofone ended the Rams’ season – He pitched a shutout in the title-clinching game against La Salle last spring.

Cofone wasn’t going to come out of the game without getting a win. After all, it was his final home start at Hendricken’s Ray Pepin Field.

“I knew it was my final home start of my high school career, so I just wanted to go out there and give it my best,” Cofone said.

His best would be more than good enough.

Hendricken’s offense pounced on La Salle starter John Beneduce early, as the Hawks produced two runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning.

After Gian Martellini and John Toppa registered base knocks, Dante Baldelli lined a ball over Broderick Santilli’s head in centerfield to score Martellini and Toppa to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the second, Ed Jackson and Santilli laced RBI singles for the Rams to even the score at 2.

But the Hawks’ bats responded again in the bottom half of the inning. Billy Keegan led off the second with a line-drive single that chased Beneduce from the game, as La Salle head coach Mark Mercurio opted to bring in his ace, Tyler Shemick, in an attempt to escape the jam.

Beneduce was relieved after giving up hits to five of the seven batters that he faced.

Shemick was greeted warmly by Elijah Brown, who also roped a single into the outfield to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

The next batter that Shemick faced was Jason Comeau, who laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded cleanly, but the throw was mishandled at first base, allowing Keegan to come around from second to give Hendricken a 3-2 lead.

Brown then scored to up the Hawks’ lead to 2 once again on a fielder’s choice off the bat of shortstop John Willette.

After the Hawks’ offense regained the lead for Cofone, he was lights out.

After the second inning, Cofone didn’t allow another hit until the seventh inning, completely shutting down the Rams’ offense.

Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway could’ve elected to start Mike McCaffrey, as the Hawks’ ace was ready to go, but instead chose to stick with the three-man rotation that he has been using all season.

It was simply Cofone’s turn to pitch.

“He did a great job today, he’s been really good all year,” Holloway said of his senior right-hander. “I’m really happy for him, he’s a great kid.”

Shemick certainly did his part, as well.

After Hendricken plated four in the first two innings, Shemick shut down the Hawks’ lineup.

Overall, Shemick surrendered just a pair of hits over five innings of work while allowing just one unearned run and striking out five.

La Salle would threaten to cut into Hendricken’s lead in the seventh, though.

Cofone got Frank Caprio to fly out to Baldelli in centerfield to lead off the inning and then struck out Jackson to record two quick outs.

But then La Salle turned its lineup over, with Santilli being its last hope at the top of the order.

He would single, and Ryan McCormick also followed with a single to put the tying run aboard.

That brought Shemick, La Salle’s No. 3 hitter, to the plate.

However, Cofone would buckle down and finish the job, as he induced a slow ground ball to first that was gobbled up by Andrew Ciacciarelli to end the game.

Holloway had a couple of pitchers warming up just in case Cofone couldn’t close it out, but in his mind, it was Cofone’s game.

“It was dangerous there, but we felt that it was Anthony’s game to win,” Holloway said. “He came through for us.”

Cofone handled La Salle’s biggest threats – Shemick and Tyler Walsh – in the middle of the order. Between the two seniors, they were a combined 0-for-6.

“I knew I had to pitch around them a bit, but my goal was to go right after every hitter because I didn’t want baserunners,” Cofone said. “I knew that if they got baserunners, they would be more into the game and more lively because every run is critical for them.”

The Hawks will now face off against Moses Brown in the Final Four at McCarthy Field in West Warwick in a best-of-three series.

Game one of that series will be played on Friday night at 6 p.m.

“It feels great,” Holloway said of making it to another Final Four. “La Salle is a good team. I’m happy because we were challenged and were able to advance. This is our goal, to make it to McCarthy and then McCoy.”

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