Mustangs still perfect

The St. Vincent baseball team opened the North Coast Section playoffs the same way it has played all season - winning.|

St. Vincent quickly got down to business in the North Coast Section Division V baseball playoffs with an 11-0 victory over visiting Drew of San Francisco on Tuesday. The top-seeded Mustangs scored six runs in the bottom of the third inning to put the game out of reach.

Catcher Gio Antonini led the seven-hit assault by the Mustangs against two Drew hurlers as he capped the rally with a bases-clearing triple. It was the second extra-base hit from the slugging sophomore, who also doubled in the first St. Vincent run in the first inning. His triple was a soaring line drive that sailed past both the right and center fielders and rolled to the outfield fence.

Antonini raised his season batting average to .478 with a team-leading 34 RBI’s. AJ Wright also had a couple of hits for the Mustangs as they improved to 24-0.

The Mustangs will get back into action Friday on their home diamond again when they host Ferndale in the NCS quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. The Wildcats from the northern area of the state edged University High of San Francisco, 4-3. in their first playoff game.

Ethan Rapoport pitched the first four innings for St. Vincent to pick up his 13th victory of the season. He was relieved by Antonini, who got the side out in the top of the fifth inning.

Rapoport continued to improve on his state hurling credentials by holding Drew hitless while walking only one. The only other base runner for the Dragons came in the second inning on a dropped ball in the outfield. The left-hander escaped with a minimum of pitches, and hw should be ready for more work on Friday.

Two plays by the Mustang defense helped out Rapoport. The first was an over-the-shoulder running catch by left fielder Coleton Christiani. Christiani got a great jump and denied an extra-base hit to Chalom Rosenberg of the Dragons.

The second was a play at short in which Reno Nalducci went to his right in the hole and put some fuzz on a throw to first base to get Jack Grace of the Dragons.

The Mustangs added to a one-run advantage by plating four more runs in the bottom of the second inning. A triple on a pop fly by Andrew Kohler and a couple of walks set the table. First baseman Wright got into one and knocked in a pair of runs with a double.

St. Vincent also moved aggressively on the base paths, taking advantage of three perfectly executed sacrifice bunts, and extra bases resulted. Wright and Nalducci were credited with stolen bases.

The 16th seed Dragons came into the game after a second-place finish in the Bay Counties Central League. Fitzgerald got the only hit of the game for Drew when he rolled one that got past second baseman Ryan Nalducci of the Mustangs.

Nalducci got a measure of revenge on the next batter when he teamed with brother Reno on a slick ground-ball double play that ended the game.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.