MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – The annual baseball edition of the Bellarmine vs. St. Francis rivalry took place Tuesday at St. Francis as the Bells took down the host Lancers 5-3 under an overcast sky.
The victory was the Bells' first at St. Francis since 2009.
Nick Bellafronto wasted no time getting the offense started for the Bells, leading off the top of the first with a double. After a sacrifice bunt by Antonio Garcia, John Helmers singled to left to score Bellafronto, and Bellarmine quickly had a 1-0 lead.
“Usually they try to start the first batter of the game off with a lot of fastballs and they try to fill the zone up with a lot of strikes. I was just waiting on a fastball and he threw it, and I put a good swing on it,” said Bellafronto, who finished the day three for five with his double and run scored.
Bellarmine added two more runs in the first when Troy Burg and Will Wegner both walked later in the inning with the bases loaded to score Helmers and Wolfie Rehbock respectively.
St. Francis quickly replied with three runs in the bottom of the first, with leadoff hitter Jeremy Ydens reaching on a dropped third strike. Ydens then advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on a double by Andrew Carter.
After a line out by Johnny Mendoza, Emilio Nogales walked, then Nogales and Carter moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. Blake Diggle hit a sacrifice fly to score Carter, and RJ Teijiero singled up the middle to score Nogales and tie the game at three all. But, that would be all for the Lancers, who did not score for the rest of the game.
Sid Iyer started on the mound for the Bells and surrendered three runs on five hits and three walks in five innings of work, all while striking out seven. After the first inning, St. Francis only put four runners on base, and none made it past second.
“(Iyer) throws that slider for a strike and he throws at the same arm speed as his fastball, so its tough to pick up, it’s tight,” said St. Francis coach Mike Oakland. “He’s good, he’s competitive. He’s quick to the plate, tough to run on, tough to do things on.”
With Iyer keeping the Lancers off the board, Bellarmine managed to squeak out a run in the top of the third. A one-out base hit from Burg got things into gear for the Bells. Burg advanced to second on a passed ball, and then to third on a Todd Jackson single to center. The senior shortstop then scored when Nick Chew laid down a safety squeeze to the right side, and pitcher Ydens’ throw did not make it to the plate in time, giving the Bells a 4-3 lead.
The Bells added their final run in the top of the sixth as insurance when Connor Mack was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Jacob Lazar. Kyle Dean replaced Iyer on the mound in the bottom of the sixth, and silenced St. Francis in two innings of work to earn the save.
“Its important that after you come in and pitch, you have someone that can come it and pick it up and keep doing the same thing,” said Iyer of Dean. “I think that we’re fortunate to have a good pitching staff here. We’re stingy for runs and we hope to continue that.”
The win improves Bellarmine’s record to 8-1 (3-1 West Catholic), and moves the Bells into a four-way tie for first place in the WCAL with St. Francis, Mitty, and Valley Christian. The Bells return home to take on Riordan on Friday at 4 p.m.
“We knew going in that it was going to take seven innings to win, so we were lucky that we were able to score two more, and they weren’t,” said BCP coach Mike Rodriguez. “It’s one of those WCAL games.”
As for St. Francis, the Lancers (5-3, 3-1) will take on host Valley Christian on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The only loss for the Warriors (11-1) this season was to Bellarmine at home last Tuesday.
