IRONTON — When opportunity knocks, you should open the door. The Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans opened the door while the St. Joseph Flyers kept looking through the keyhole.
Luke Cassidy pitched 6 strong innings before tiring in the seventh and he went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and triple to help the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans top the St. Joseph Flyers 10-2 on Monday.
“They took advantage of their chances and we didn’t. They were aggressive and hit the ball” said Flyers’ coach Greg Bryant. “Cassidy is a really good pitcher. Our pitchers were just missing a lot of spots.”
Cassidy allowed 4 hits and 2 unearned runs as he struck out 11 and walked 3 to get the win. Eugene Collins came on and gave up one hit and got the final 3 outs.
Notre Dame (3-1, 2-0) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Collins and Cassidy singled, the runners pulled off a double steal and Myles Phillips grounded out to score Collins.
The Titans rallied for 2 runs in the second inning to lead 3-0.
Brody Coleman and Coleman Shaffer singled and Mason Tarr was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Bryce McGraw then singled home the 2 runs.
The lead went to 4-0 in the third on a leadoff triple by Cassidy and a sacrifice fly by Phillips.
After 2 scoreless innings, the game got out of hand in the fifth thanks to a dropped third strike and a couple of errors.
Collins reached on a dropped third strike to start the inning. Cassidy singled Collins to third and Phillips hit his second sacrifice fly.
Ethan Kingrey singled home Cassidy and then Coleman reached on an error. Collins stole second and Shaffer was safe on an error as both runners scored.
Notre Dame added a run in the sixth as Cassidy had a leadoff double, Phillips reached on an error and Cassidy came home on a balk.
The Titans got their final run in the seventh when McGraw singled, stole second and scored on a hit by Collins.
The Flyers — who didn’t have a hit until the fifth inning — avoided the shutout in the bottom of the inning.
Darryn Harvey, Mason Weber and Evan Balestra all had hard-hit singles and Drew Brown reached on an error as pinch-runner Ian Whaley and Weber scored.
Cassidy got the next batter to fly out to right field to end the game.
Weber was 2-3 for the Flyers (3-1, 1-1) with Stephens 1-3 and a double, Balestra 1-2 and Harvey 1-3.
The Flyers next game is April 11 at Tolsia, W.Va.
Notre Dame 121 401 1 = 10 12 2
St. Joseph 000 000 2 = 2 5 3
Luke Cassidy, Eugen Collins (7) and Landon Barbartits Drew Brown, Jake Stephens (5) and Jake Stephens, Drew Brown (5). W-Cassidy (IP-6.0, H-4, R-2, ER-0, K-11, BB-3). Collins (IP-1.0, H-1, R-0, K-0, BB-0). L-Brown (IP-41, H-8, R-7, ER-5, K-4, BB-1). Stephens (IP-2.2, H-4, R-3, ER-1, K-4, BB-2). Hitting-Notre Dame: Eugene Collins 2-5 RBI, Luke Cassidy 4-5 2B 3B, Myles Phillips 3-RBI 2-SF, Ethan Kingrey 1-4, Brody Coleman 1-4, Coleman Shaffer 1-4 2-RBI, Mason Tarr 1-3, Bryce McGraw 1-3 2-RBI; St. Joseph: Evan Balestra 1-2, Jake Stephens 1-3 2B,, Darryn Harvey 1-3, Mason Weber 2-3.
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