De La Salle 7
Fenwick    6 (8 inn.)
Fenwick head baseball coach Dave Hogan will be the first to admit that it wasn’t the game-winning home run in the eighth inning that led to his Friars’ 7-6 downfall against De La Salle on Saturday at the Dominican Priory in River Forest. The real culprit was poor throwing on the part of his infield.
The Friars (12-4, 2-2) committed five throwing errors in the game, all coming from different positions in the infield.
“De La Salle is a solid team, and they had a good pitcher going but we can’t make that many mistakes and expect to come out on top,” said Hogan, whose team defeated the Meteors 4-3 on April 22. “I can handle seeing a couple of errors in a game where there’s situations that may cause such a thing, but these were simple, soft throwing errors.”
Down 2-0 in the third inning, Mike Falsetti doubled in two runs for Fenwick. Cam Verbeke and Kevin Sweeney both singled, and Austin Brown’s double gave the Friars a 4-2 lead.
The Meteors (7-10) scored again in the fifth and the sixth. Gino Rooney drove in two runs for the Friars on a single in the seventh. But Tom Lally’s game-winning homer in the top of the eighth assured De La Salle the victory.
George Kinsella took the loss for the Friars, allowing four runs – two earned – in 4 1/3 innings. He finished with three strikeouts.
In the win over the Meteors on April 22, Verbeke fanned 16 batters, the most during a single game in his high school career. The senior allowed three earned runs off four hits.
Joe Musso drove in two runs for the Friars, who crushed St. Frances de Sales 15-5 on Friday. Myles O’Donnell earned the win in that game, striking out five in two innings. Falsetti drove in three runs on the day, while Joe Horrigan finished with two RBIs.
“We need to start turning the corner and playing consistent ball,” said Hogan. “The next couple of weeks are going to be a true test for this team.”
The Friars host Providence today (Wednesday, April 29) and Ridgewood on Friday for a makeup game. They host Loyola in a doubleheader at the Priory on Saturday. Game 1 begins at 11 a.m.