In battle of heavyweights, here's how Hendricken baseball stormed back to overtake La Salle
PROVIDENCE — It took a bit of patience at the plate and a firefighter on the mound to decide this Division I baseball rivalry showdown.
Bishop Hendricken pounced on the La Salle bullpen and found the relief answer it needed in Cooper Maher. That was enough for the Hawks to deal the Rams a defeat on a raw Thursday afternoon at Toti Baseball Diamond.
The visitors piled up seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to turn this one for good. Maher stranded four men while recording the final eight outs and Hendricken left with a 9-6 triumph over La Salle.
“The energy on the bus ride — you could see everybody was just ready to play this game,” Maher said. “This is always a big one for us.”
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The state’s two most prominent Catholic rivals do battle across multiple sports, and baseball is no different. The Rams were coasting behind Patrick Jones with a 5-2 lead before the roof caved in, as three relievers staggered through the last two innings. Frank Tillinghast’s two-run double to the corner in left snapped a 5-5 tie and put the Hawks in front to stay.
“Everybody was getting on base and doing their job one after another,” Tillinghast said. “It was a full team effort. I got in a position where I could come up and do that.”
Two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth. Jack LaRose’s infield single and consecutive walks by Ryan Thompson and Braeden Campbell drew Hendricken even. Tillinghast sliced one to the opposite field, Cole Camara drove a sacrifice fly to center and Maher helped himself by lining an RBI single to left.
“I know our offense will always come through,” Maher said. “I see them in the cages.”
Jones was particularly tough in left-left matchups through the first five innings. The Hawks (5-0) were just 1-for-8 in those situations against the Maine commit, including a swinging strikeout that followed RBI singles by Maher and Parker Boyd in the top of the fourth. Jones departed with his pitch count climbing and what felt like a reasonable lead, but trouble was lurking just around the corner.
“By the fourth inning we knew he had a high count,” Tillinghast said. “We knew we were going to see someone different in a little bit.”
La Salle (4-3) put Jones in front by erasing a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the fourth. Aiden Ciprian lined an RBI single to center and a pair of Hendricken errors made it a 4-2 game. Caden Calabro bumped it to a three-run margin in the fifth when he stole home on an attempted squeeze bunt.
The Rams stumbled from there, and Maher held them to a single run in the sixth on what turned out to be a 6-3 double play. He left men at the corners with an inning-ending strikeout and kept the tying run in the on-deck circle in the seventh when Tommy Malloy lined to center.
“We knew he was going to come out here and pump gas,” Tillinghast said. “That’s what we expected and that’s what he did.”
Bishop Hendricken 000 207 0 — 9 10 2
La Salle 100 311 0 — 6 9 1
Ryan Thompson, Dylan Lynch (4), Cooper Maher (5) and Braeden Campbell; Patrick Jones, Michael Mita (6), Domenic McNeil (6), Aiden Ciprian (6) and Nate Bautista.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Hendricken tops La Salle in Division I baseball battle
