Johnstown – When you hit a baseball perfectly on a bone-chillingly cold day, those bumble bees in the handle are pretty much nonexistent.
Just ask Faith Christian catcher Seve Carbajal.
The Eagles senior set the tone for Thursday’s Class 3A nonleague game against the defending champion Roosevelt Rough Riders with a leadoff home run to dead center field. Faith just kept swinging, and by the time all was said and done, the Eagles had a 9-2 victory and ran their record to 13-0, including 3-0 against the formidable Patriot League.
“It felt pretty good. I kind of got under it a little bit, but after I started running the bases, I felt like I hit it pretty good,” said Carbajal, whose team has wins against always-powerful Eaton and Brush to go along with its 10-0 Metropolitan League mark.
The Eagles would get all of the offense they needed in the top of the second. After Roosevelt’s Jerry Hildreth tripled and scored in the bottom of the first, Faith put a four-spot on the board against Hildreth.
The big hit came off the bat of nine-hole hitter Drew Tycksen, whose single to right field brought home Matt Rivera and brother Chris Tycksen. Dave Fox came to the plate three batters later with the bases loaded and drilled a two-run double to left center.
“We’ve played in some brutally cold stuff, but don’t get me wrong, we were just happy to get out and play,” Faith coach Gino Carbajal said. “Anytime you can beat one of these Patriot League teams, I think we’re pretty happy about that. You’ve got to play the tough teams, because you know you are going to see them in the playoffs.”
Roosevelt (9-4) rallied for another run in the bottom of the second on Matt Cooper’s RBI single, but that was all the Riders could muster against Eagles starter Pierce Johnson (4-0).
“For us, this was mainly a gauge to see where is the top team offensively, defensively and pitching-wise,” Roosevelt coach Alan Gibson said. “You can see that they are deep all the way around and their lineup is solid 1 through 9. Probably the biggest hit of the game came from their nine-hole hitter.”
Faith Christian 142 002 0 – 9 9 0
Roosevelt 110 000 0 – 2 9 3
Faith Christian – S. Carbajal c 3-3-2-1, Wall ss 3-1-2-1, Fox cf 3-0-1-2, Anderson 3b 3-0-0-0, Rivera 1b 4-2-0-0, C. Tycksen dh 4-2-2-0, P. Johnson p 0-0-0-0, Thompson rf 2-0-1-1, J. Johnson rf 0-0-0-0, M. Carbajal 2b 3-0-0-0, Henry 2b 1-0-0-0, D. Tycksen lf 3-1-1-2, Carroll ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 30-9-9-7.
Roosevelt – Hildreth p-2b 3-0-1-0, Aynes cr-ph 1-1-0-0, Valverde cf 3-0-0-1, Shable dh 2-0-0-0, Koenig ph 1-0-0-0, Soto rf 1-0-1-0, Wilson c-p 4-0-1-0, Briceno cr-ph 1-0-0-0, McKay lf 3-0-1-0, Cito ss 3-1-2-0, Hernandez 3b 2-0-1-0, Reynolds ph 1-0-1-0, Cooper 2b-p 2-0-1-1, Geisenhoff 1b 3-0-0-0, McSwain c 0-0-0-0. Totals 30-2-9-2.
E – Hernandez 2, Cito. LOB – Faith Christian 5; Roosevelt 8. DP – Roosevelt 2. SAC – Thompson. 2B – Fox, C. Tycksen, Thompson, S. Carbajal, Wall; Cito, McKay. 3B – Hildreth. HR – S. Carbajal, solo in first.
Batteries – Johnson and S. Carbajal; Hildreth, Cooper (6), Wilson (7) and Wilson, McSwain (7). W – Johnson (4-0). L – Hildreth (0-2). WP – Hildreth, Cooper. PB – S. Carbajal; Wilson. IBB – Anderson. HBP – J. Johnson (by Wilson in 7th).
