Romano throws St. Vincent to first-round NCS baseball victory

Jack Romano fired a one-hitter to pitch St. Vincent to a 6-1 win over Technology in the first round of the North Coast Section Division V baseball playoffs.|

St. Vincent pitcher Jack Romano cranked up an overpowering one-hitter to lead the Mustangs to a 6-1 win over Technology in the first round of Division 5 baseball playoffs on Wednesday. Romano’s gem helped vault the third-seeded Mustangs into a second round North Coast Section contest at home against University of San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.

Technology batters had no answers for the slants of the St. Vincent senior who struck out 11 batters along the way with a moving fastball and occasional breaking pitch. Most of the Titan batters were late swingers, and only nine balls were put in play.

Romano carried a no-hit ball game and 6-0 advantage into the sixth inning when Technology finally plated a run with the aid of its only hit of the contest. The second free pass of the game was eventually followed by a looping fly ball in front of charging left fielder Ethan Rapoport for a clean hit by Steve McDowell to break up the shutout.

It was the seventh win of the season for Romano who reduced his game-beginning ERA of 1.34 for the season.

St. Vincent touched up Technology starter Anthony Ditizio for nine hits, but the Mustangs failed to bunch enough of them to break away completely. The hosts had at least one hit in every inning, but many of them lifted harmless fly balls that were corralled by Titan defenders. Thirteen fly ball outs were recorded.

“I think that our kids got a little over-excited today, and they were not patient enough at bat,” commented St. Vincent coach Gary Galloway. “They all were able to put the ball in play today.”

The most productive hit of the afternoon came off the bat of Mustang catcher Nick Murphy who lofted a long three-run double to the base of the left field fence in the bottom of the third inning.

Center fielder Michael Davis tripled twice on drives that got past the Titan outfielders. If the game was on the line, Galloway might have waved him in as he easily steamed into third base.

Murphy, Davis, Romano and Rapoport each recorded two hits for the Mustangs as they improved to 19-5 for the season. Romano finished with a couple of RBIs to aide his own cause.

The defensive play of the afternoon came on a bouncer to Mustang shortstop Reno Nalducci who skipped a short hop throw to Gio Antonini at first who, in turn, made a great pick for the out to retire Matt Green.

The gradually improving Technology baseball program earned its way into the NCS playoffs with a 10-10 record prior to the game, including wins over Lake County teams Clear Lake and Upper Lake.

Saturday afternoon will be a busy day on the St. Vincent athletic scene as the North Central II champion Mustang softball will host St. Bernard’s of Eureka in the second round of the Division V NCS playoffs at noon. That contest will be followed by the University-St. Vincent baseball contest at three p.m.

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