Baseball: Luis Castro lifts Richards past Stagg
Updated: March 22, 2012 8:12PM
His head went down, but only a little bit.
Richards first baseman Luis Castro had too much to do to worry about it after his error with two outs in the second inning resulted in a four-run explosion by Stagg and a large early deficit in Thursday’s battle in Oak Lawn.
“Obviously, the way Lou hit the ball today he didn’t let it bother him,” Bulldogs coach Brian Wujcik said after Castro’s 4-for-4 performance was key in No. 8 Richards’ 9-4 victory.
Castro had a triple, a double and two singles for the Bulldogs (2-1). Jake Beiriger and Vince Boettger added two hits each, while Jordan Julian threw two shutout innings and got the win in relief of starter Jim Augle.
Mike Farnan and Matt Klimasz each had two hits for Stagg (1-2).
Castro put Richards in front 1-0 in the bottom of the first when he stroked a two-out triple and scored on a wild pitch by Chargers starter Kenon Kizlaitis. But things would turn sour in the top of the second.
Stagg had runners on second and third with two outs when Will Maske hit a grounder to third baseman Jake Kendryna. The throw to first popped out of Castro’s glove, allowing one run to score.
“Mental error,” Castro said. “It happens. There was nothing I could do about it.
“As soon as I made the play I put my head down. But my teammates kept me up. We’re all in this together.”
Stagg went on to score three more runs on singles by Matt Giuffre and Farnan and a double by Mike Rankin.
It would be the last time a Charger would cross the plate.
Richards’ comeback began with a two-spot in the third, sparked by a leadoff bunt single by Chris Elliott, and another by Beiriger. Castro contributed a blistering single down the left-field line.
Kizlaitis left with a 4-3 lead after walking Kendryna to start the Richards fourth. Vito Cali came in for Stagg to quell that scoring opportunity, but the Bulldogs batted around against him in a five-run fifth.
The big blows were a sacrifice fly by Jesse Valenti, doubles by Kendryna and Beiriger and Castro’s third hit of the game, a single. He added a double in the sixth, and scored on another two-bagger by Boettger.
“It’s looking good. The bat’s starting off hot,” Castro said. “I took some extra hitting off the tee before the game. The batting practice helped out.”
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