Baseball: Marist makes quick work of TF South

Marist has been inconsistent with the bats in weeks leading up to the postseason.

That wasn’t the case Wednesday in the RedHawks’ Class 4A semifinal against T.F. South.

Marist erupted for five runs in the first inning and coasted to a 15-3 win over the Rebels at the Richards Regional.

The RedHawks will play the winner of Thursday’s Andrew-Richards quarterfinal at 11 a.m. Saturday. T.F. South finished at 14-17.

What really pleased Marist coach Tom Fabrizio was how his team wasn’t content after erupting for five runs in the first inning. Marist (25-11) tacked on three more in the second, five in the third and two in the fourth to put a halt to the mismatch after 4 1/2 innings.

“It’s good to see,” Fabrizio said of the offensive outburst. “We haven’t been swinging the bats real well. I really liked seeing us jump out early.”

John McKevitt led the way for the RedHawks, going 2-for-3 with five RBI. He collected three of those RBI with one swing of the bat, launching a three-run homer.

Jim Carroll had a 3-for-3 day with an RBI, while Ryan Meyer added two hits, including a triple off the left-field wall.

While Fabrizio was pleased with his team’s offense, he wasn’t all that satisfied with the pitching and defense. McKevitt went the distance to gain the win, but he had trouble locating the plate and RedHawks committed two errors.

“We’re going to need to make some adjustments on Saturday,” Fabrizio said. “We have to shore some things up. There’s definitely room for improvement on the mound and defensively.

“We’ve been playing good defense for most of the season. We have to get back to doing that the rest of the way.”

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