Pope John's baseball team squandered an early lead against crosstown rival Sparta on Monday. Down early, Ryan McNally's two-run homer helped make sure the Lions weren't out.
McNally's mammoth blast to left tied the game and Pope John benefited from three Sparta errors to post a 6-5 win in a North Jersey Athletic Conference American Division clash at Lions Pride Park.
Pope John (14-2), ranked No. 1 in West Jersey by Open Mike, has bounced back nicely after Friday's 11-8 loss to Don Bosco Prep with back-to-back wins over No. 8 North Hunterdon on Saturday and No. 5 Sparta (12-5), which has dropped two straight following a seven-game win streak.
The Lions also played without standout shortstop Matt Tietz, who pulled a chest muscle in the loss to Don Bosco, according to Pope John coach Vin Bello. Glenn Gavan started in Tietz's place at short and went 1-for-1 with a walk and a run scored.
"I feel good, we're on the right track," Bello said. "Hopefully we'll get better and better. I'm proud of the way we swung the bats the last couple of days."
Pope John faced one of the top pitchers in the state on Friday -- Don Bosco lefty and Tulane-bound Jordan Gross -- and another tough pitcher in North Hunterdon's Steve Bloodworth, who is heading to Wagner College. Monahan entered this one with a mark of 4-1 and the lefty gave a gutsy effort for six frames, holding a dangerous Pope John offense to five hits. But five walks and three errors by the defense hurt his cause.
Pope John starter Mike Liegel struggled early, but settled down after a four-run third inning. The right-hander allowed five runs on nine hits and struck out five.
"I thought he threw better the last three innings than he did the first three," Bello said. "He couldn't find his curveball (early) and he threw some warmups in the bullpen between innings. He found it the last three innings and located his changeup."
Star catcher Alex DeBellis, who went 2-for-3 with a triple, said Liegel gave a gutty effort.
"He's a bulldog," the Connecticut-bound DeBellis said. "It's always a great rivalry between Sparta and Pope John.
McNally's shot went over the left-field fence and hit the school about 25 yards in back on a bounce. Pope John had a chance for more when DeBellis followed with a single and stole second and third with one out. After a walk to designated hitter Nick D'Alessio, Brendan Mayers grounded into an inning-ending 6-3 double play turned nicely by Maryland-bound Sparta shortstop John Brucker .
With the game tied at 4, Connor McGlynn singled with two out in the bottom of the fourth and wound up scoring when Gavan, who's single moved McGlynn to third, got caught leaning off first base. Sparta first baseman Connor Glew fired the ball down to second base, but Brucker missed Gavan with the tag, allowing McGlynn to come home for a 5-4 Pope John lead.
The Lions added another run, which proved to be huge, in the fifth. DeBellis ripped a triple to deep right-center with one out and later scored on an error by the Sparta catcher on a pickoff throw that skipped down the left-field line. The inning ended with Mayers getting caught off first, one of two times the Lions were caught trying to steal.
"I think (Sparta) had my signs," Bello said. "But that's part of the game. We think we can beat guys with speed and on the mound."
Sparta, which stranded runners on first and third in the fourth, made it a one-run game in the seventh when Glew tripled down the right-field line with one out. Pinch-runner Mike Platania scored on Jason Postorino's groundout to third. But Liegel got pinch-hitter John Appaluccio to ground out to short to end the game.
Down 2-0 early, the Spartans with a big third inning. Monahan, who went 3-for-4 on the day, tripled down the right-field line leading off and came across on Gaveric Bach's single. Bach later scored on a wild pitch before Posterino delivered the big blow with a two-run single up the middle.
The Lions struck for two in the bottom of the first, Following a leadoff walk to center fielder Matt Ackerman, a two-base error allowed McNally to reach put runners on second and third with none out. Ackerman scored on a wild pitch by Sparta starter Brendan Monahan and D'Alessio plated McNally with a sacrifice fly, on which Sparta left fielder Tommy Roche made a spectacular diving catch for the second out.
Pope John will likely have the rest of the week off before Saturday's showdown with No. 3 Voorhees in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex semifinals. The game will feature a battle between unbeaten aces in the Lions' Mayers, who is headed to Rutgers, and Voorhees lefty Sean Keselica, who is committed to Virginia Tech.
Last year, Keselica held the Lions to only two hits in a 6-1 win.
"He's very good," Bello said of Keselica. "But we want to play good teams. That's what we do."
Sparta (12-5) 004 000 1 -- 5 9 3
Pope John (14-2) 202 110 x -- 6 5 1
SPARTA (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Monahan, p, 4-1-3-0, Bach, rf, 3-1-1-1, Brucker, ss, 3-1-1-0, Livingston, c, 4-0-1-0/Platania, cr, 0-1-0-0, Glew, 1b, 3-0-1-0/Platania, pr, 0-1-0-0, Postorino, 3b, 4-0-2-3, DeAcquino, 2b, 1-0-0-0/Appaluccio, ph, 1-0-0-0, Forman, dh, 3-0-0-0, Roche, lf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 29-5-9-4.
POPE JOHN (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Ackerman, cf, 2-1-0-0, McNally, rf, 3-2-1-2, DeBellis, c, 3-1-2-0, D'Alessio, dh, 1-0-0-1/Salazzo, 3b, 0-0-0-0, Mayers, 2b, 2-0-0-0, Liegel, p, 3-0-0-0, Redwood, lf, 2-0-0-0, McGlynn, 1b, 3-1-1-0, Gavan, ss, 1-1-1-0. Totals: 20-6-5-3.
E -- Postorino, Brucker, Livingston; McGlynn. DP -- Sparta 1 (Brucker-Glew). LOB -- Sparta 8, Pope John 1. 3B -- Monahan, Glew; DeBellis. HR -- McNally. SAC -- DeAcquino. SF -- D'Alessio. SB -- DeBellis 2. CS -- Livingston; Gavan, Mayers, Redwood.
Monahan and Livingston. Liegel and DeBellis. W -- Liegel (3-1). L -- Monahan (4-2). SO-BB -- Monahan 3-5; Liegel 5-2. WP -- Monahan 1; Liegel. HBP -- Bach (by Liegel), D'Acquino (by Liegel). Umpires -- Mark Schulte and Bob Melillo.
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