Last Friday night, Brother Martin found itself trailing to Rummel 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning with time slipping away. After Rummel loaded the bases with no outs, Crusader right-hander Corey Gaconi struck out the side to keep the deficit at one run. The Crusaders got on the board with two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. The Raiders threatened again in the last inning, but Andrew Boucvalt came on in relief to get the final out and the save. With the win the Crusaders clinched at least a tie for their third district championship in six years.
Less than 24 hours after defeating Rummel in a district nail-biter, the Crusaders traveled to Comet Field to face St. Charles on Saturday afternoon. St. Charles started the scoring with a solo homerun in the second inning, giving the Comets a 1-0 lead. After a scoreless third inning, the Crusaders broke through on a pair of sacrifice flies to give Brother Martin a 2-1 lead. The Crusaders increased the lead to 3-1 in the fifth off a base hit by Jacob Seward. Following a similar route in the top of the sixth, Owen Magee stole home on a wild pitch and DH Jarett Gongora tagged-up on another sacrifice fly to put the Crusaders up, 5-1.
Brother Martin (25-5, 8-0) will play its final district series this week against West Jefferson on Tuesday at 4:30 pm at West Jefferson and Thursday at 7:00 pm at Kirsch-Rooney. The Thursday game will be broadcast on the radio on WGSO 990 am and at www.wgso.com.
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