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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Xaverian’s baseball season easily could have ended more than two weeks ago with heads hung in disappointment. That just wasn’t meant to be the lasting image of this year’s Clippers club, whose coach even called the season a rebuilding one when the campaign began.
They will instead be remembered for a dog pile on top of senior ace Anthony Sigismondi on the St. John’s University mound after completing one of the most remarkable playoff runs in Catholic baseball history.
Fifth-seeded Xaverian staved off elimination seven times on its way to its first intersectional title since 2011. It capped things off by beating No. 2 Archbishop Molloy 5–3 and 6–4 in the final round of the double-elimination tournament on June 11 at Jack Kaiser Stadium. Just one win would have given the Stanners the crown.
For Sigismondi, winning the title was a vindication of the confidence he had from the start of the season.
“It means the world,” said Sigismondi, who was named the playoffs’ most valuable player. “I’ve been saying it since day one. It’s not a rebuilding year. We’ve got the talent that we needed. It definitely shows right now.”
Even with that confidence, the Clippers needed a spark in Game 2 with Molloy pitcher Scott Hannon allowing no hits and striking out seven through the first four and third innings. They got it from an unlikely source.
Nick Terzulli was hit on the hand attempting a bunt with two men on and one out in the top of the fifth and the Stanners up 1–0. Second-year Xaverian head coach Frank Del George argued when Terzulli wasn’t sent to first. Assistant coach and son Greg Del George then got in the home plate umpire’s face and was ejected after he said his original yelling to pump up the team was misinterpreted for chastising the ump. The players got the message and responded.
“Coach Greg gave us the little boost that we needed,” Sigismondi said. “It worked out in our favor. We knew we had to pick up the win for him.”
The Clippers (20–5) went on to score four times in the frame, with help from three Molloy errors, to grab a lead it never relinquished. Brian Watters, who pinch-hit for the injured Terzulli, drove in a run with a ground ball. Chris Amato and Joe Vitacco each had RBI singles and Anthony Scotti had a sac fly in the frame. Nick Meola added a run-scoring double in the six, and Phoenix Hernandez plated a run with a ground out to push the advantage to 6–1.
“He was throwing the ball right by us,” Frank Del George said of Hannon. “When he started to lose it a little bit I said, ‘Now we can play our game a little bit.’ We can bunt a little bit, put the pressure on the defense, and maybe the defense will break down a little bit and that’s the way it worked out.”
Sigismondi, who won three playoff games, bent but didn’t break. Molloy (18–5) had two runners on with no outs, but scored just three times in the bottom of the sixth on three of their four hits to make it 6–4. Sigismondi went on to finish what he started by retiring the Stanners in order in the seventh.
“It’s just the perfect ending,” said Chris Nierva. “For a senior to go out like that, there is just so much emotion.”
The pitching was strong for Xaverian in Game 1 also. Robert Amato allowed just three runs on four hits over four innings of work, and closer Jeff Manzi got out of bases-loaded jams without giving up a run in the fifth and sixth.
Nierva, who had three hits and three RBI in the game, delivered the big blow against Molloy ace Anthony Catinella with a two-run homer to right field to tie the score at 3–3 in the fourth inning. Hernandez scored the go-ahead run later in the frame on a pass ball and Vitacco also had an RBI. Nierva hit a few home runs in scrimmages before the title game, and was grateful to Frank Del George for giving him a shot.
“I know I’m capable of it,” Nierva said. “It’s just a blessing that I was able to show it in such a big game.”
It was moments like that which worried Frank Del George after graduating 17 seniors. He never doubted this group’s ability, just their experience in the pressure of the playoffs.
“We wanted to make sure they would be able to handle the nervous situations that usually happen in this type of tournament,” he said.
And they did. They handled it as well as any team in Catholic baseball playoff history.