Sports
Baseball: Providence Bats Erupt in Conference Win Over Fenwick
Providence 11, Fenwick 2. Sam Travis and Branden Boggetto smack home runs to spark Celtics.
Touching All the Bases: Falling behind after the first pitch of the game Tuesday wasn’t reason to panic for Providence Catholic, which has been lighting up the scoreboard.
After Ryan Fitzgerald smacked the first pitch over the 350-foot fence in straight-away center field to put Fenwick ahead 1-0, the Celtics erupted for 11 unanswered runs to cruise to an 11-2 Chicago Catholic League baseball victory.
Sam Travis belted his 12th home run in the bottom of the first inning to put No. 1 Providence ahead for good at 2-1, and the Celtics scored at least two runs in the next three innings as well. Travis added a sacrifice fly in the second and now has 44 RBIs.
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Senior right-hander Dan Wetzel (2-0) shined on the mound as well. He allowed one earned run on four hits, while striking out two and walking none in five innings. A bad-hop single over Providence shortstop Joe Houlihan’s head scored a run in the top of the fifth inning and prevented the game from ending by the 10-run rule.
Houlihan closed out the game by retiring all six batters he faced.
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Patch’s MVP: Branden Boggetto. The junior designated hitter/shortstop went 3-for-3 with a two-run home run and scored two runs to lead the Celtics’ 13-hit attack.
Providence Leaders: Boggetto (3-for-3, 2-run homer, 2 runs), Dominic Olszta (2-for-2, walk, 3 runs, RBI), Collin McEnery (2-for-3, 2 runs), Dan Potempa (2-for-3, run), Travis (2-run homer, 3 RBIs), Houlihan (2-RBI single), Kenny King (2 RBI)
Fenwick Leaders: Fitzgerald (home run), Quinn Collins (RBI single)
Quotable I: Providence coach Mark Smith on his team’s offense: “We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well lately. I thought we had a lot of nice at-bats today. The kids came out and did a nice job. I’m very pleased.”
Quotable II: Smith on Wetzel’s performance on the mound: “Dan threw very well. The first pitch of the game is a get-me-over, get-ahead-in-the-count strike and the kid just put a pretty good swing on it. Other than that, he pitched a heck of a game. Any time you can get five innings and one (earned run) out of a starter, it gives you a great opportunity to win and that’s what he did today.”
Team Records: Providence (23-3, 11-3 in Chicago Catholic League); Fenwick (15-12, 11-7 in CCL).
What’s Next: Providence hits the road Wednesday for a 4:30 p.m. conference game against Loyola Academy.
