Sports

Sea’s Pavia brilliant despite extra-inning loss to Xavier

When St. Joseph by the Sea’s Nick Pavia is pitching at his best, it takes nothing short of a Major League effort to beat him. Maybe that’s why it took Xavier nine innings to knock off Pavia and the Vikings, 3-1 at Jack Kaiser Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University Friday night in the CHSAA Class A intersectional championship round.

“Tough loss…good ballgame.”

That was all Sea coach Gordon Rugg could say about Friday night’s instant classic.

The No. 2 Vikings may have failed in their first attempt to knock off No. 8 Xavier and claim the CHSAA title, but they got everything and more from the right arm of their ace. Pavia was brilliant despite the loss. The senior, who will pitch at Wagner next year, only allowed four hits over the course of his nine-inning duel with Xavier’s Rob Maguire. Three of those knocks were surrendered to one player, Knights first baseman David Eschen.

“He was on tonight,” Rugg said about Eschen, who was Xavier’s entire offense for most of the night. “He hit everything we threw at him.”

It was ultimately Eschen’s fourth and final hit in the top of the ninth that nullified one of the year’s best clutch pitching performances.

After James McCool reached on a two-out walk, Eschen singled to left and both runners advanced on a double steal. Pavia looked to have induced a groundout to get his team out of the inning, but when Eschen cut off shortstop Chris Ramanauskas’ angle on the ball, the routine grounder turned into the game’s deciding play.

In a last ditch effort to save the run, Ramanauskas overthrew Anthony Battaglia at first and allowed two runs to score.

Pavia struck out 12 and threw 137 pitches, desperately trying to will his team to its first CHSAA championship. But his efforts ultimately fell short.

He said after the game that he would have thrown 160 pitches if he had to. His determination to win showed on his face as he spoke. Despite the heartbreaking loss, Pavia looked to be undeterred after the game, already looking forward to the rematch that will take place Saturday afternoon.

“It’s a tough game to lose,” Pavia said. “But that’s the great thing about baseball, you get to get out there tomorrow and play again.”

The workhorse pitcher didn’t seem to have any doubts about whether his team will be ready to play in the rematch that will settle the league title.

“We know how we lost this game,” he said. “We’re going to come out tomorrow hungry.”

Pavia, who allowed just two hits through the regulation seven innings, pitched his last high-school game, but the Vikings couldn’t find the run support that Pavia needed. Sea went 14-1 during the regular season, and has an offense that has had contributions up and down their lineup. But they couldn’t break through Friday night against Sacred Heart-bound Maguire.

Frank Stavola is expected to start for the Vikings Saturday and he’ll face Xavier left-hander Nicky DiLeo. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Jack Kaiser Stadium.