Baseball – Bats Back Panzini in Red Bank Catholic Win Over Wall

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RED BANK - Shane Panzini ran into a lineup ready to face him on Saturday, which is why it was a good thing for Panzini that his Red Bank Catholic team was ready to swing their bats too.

Wall's potent lineup jumped on Red Bank Catholic's ace for two runs in the first three innings, but the Caseys - the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 - exploded for six runs in the third inning to give Panzini all the support he needed in a 7-4 Red Bank Catholic win.

After two dominant outings to open his senior season, Panzini met some real resistance for the first time during the regular season Saturday, when Wall showed up at Count Basie Park with its offense averaging 11 runs per game heading into the day. Panzini allowed three runs - two earned - on seven hits and two walks while striking out 10 over six innings of work. Wall ran Panzini's pitch count up to 104 through six innings, which was enough for Red Bank Catholic coach Buddy Hausmann to turn to sophomore Alex Stanyek to record the final three outs.

"On a (cold) day like today, his third start of the season, it wasn't worth it to push him," Hausmann said. "We had Stanyek ready and him being a sophomore, I like to give him a clean inning. If this were a tournament game, we might have tried to see if Shane could get the first two guys in under six pitches and have him try to finish it, but this early in the season, he did his job."

Wall grabbed an early 1-0 lead on the University of Virginia commit with first inning singles by senior Jay Bant, senior Max Harrell and junior Nick Lovarco - the latter of whom drove in the first run.

Sophomore shortstop Gabe Cavazzoni made it 2-0 in the top of the third on a two-out RBI triple to right-center on a 0-2 offering from Panzini. Five of Wall's seven hits against Panzini came on two-strike counts.

"I was proud of the way our guys approached today," Wall coach Jim Rochford said. "They were looking forward to the challenge of facing Panzini and I thought they had great approaches. If there is one thing we can do, it's swing the bats, so I expected our guys to take some good swings today and I thought we did that. Unfortunately, we gave up the big inning and Panzini looked like he got stronger as the game went on."

"That's a good hitting team," Hausmann said. "And they know (Panzini) and he knows them. I think Shane takes advantage of that sometimes but I think where it hurts him a little is there just isn't that intimidation factor when you know somebody."

After picking up a hit in each of the first two innings, Red Bank Catholic's offense broke onto the scoreboard in the third and in a big way. The Caseys wrapped five consecutive hits to open the inning, with senior Sean Ettore, senior Anthony Borriello and sophomore Frank Scrivanic singling to load the bases.

Junior Matt Scrivanic then hit a game-tying two-run single to tie the game and Panzini followed with a ground-rule double that chased home Frank Scrivanic with the go-ahead run.

"I had to do my job there and get a run in," Matt Scrivanic said. "I tried to move up in the box a little bit, get something to hit and hit it hard."

Stanyek ended the run of five straight hits with a fly ball to centerfield, but it was good for a sacrifice fly and the fourth run of the inning. Freshman Sean Griggs then continued his red-hot start to his high-school career with an RBI double that one-hopped the fence in right field, scoring Panzini from second base.

Junior second baseman Nico Gonzalez capped the rally with an RBI single, making it 6-2 in the third.

"The good thing so far is we have hit," said Hausmann, whose team is averaging 8.6 runs per game after scoring 43 in four games this past week. "The seniors stepped up today but the younger guys have been doing a nice job too. Sean Griggs is a freshman and he's been maybe our hottest hitter so far, so it's been good to see those younger guys get comfortable."

Wall got a run back in the top of the fourth thanks to a double on a 0-2 pitch by senior Max Kaplan, who scored on a two-out error.

Panzini needed 80 pitches to get through the first four innings but coasted through the final two on 24 pitches. Wall senior Christian Cosenza singled with two out in the sixth for Wall's seventh hit, but RBC sophomore catcher Shane Andrus threw him out at second base when Cosenza tried to advance on a ball in the dirt.

After RBC chased Wall junior starter Jake Burt with the six-run inning, senior Ryan Lasko came on for the final three innings and kept the Crimson Knights close. He allowed three hits and an unearned run in his three innings of work.

With Saturday's win, Red Bank Catholic has now won six straight following its lone loss - a 12-10 defeat to Middletown South in which the Caseys jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

As for Panzini, after allowing the first two runs against him this season, he is now 3-0 with a 0.70 ERA, 10 hits allowed, six walks and 39 strikeouts in 20 innings. Another hoard of Major League scouts was on hand to watch the MLB Draft prospect, who topped out at 94 miles-per-hour with his fastball and sat at 90-to-93 for most of his third start of the season.

Panzini will make his next start next Saturday at home against Shore Conference Class A Central rival Rumson-Fair Haven.

Box Score

Red Bank Catholic 7, Wall 4

Pitching

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