Calvary Christian sweeps regular season series vs Bucs

Chuck Frye
Correspondent

CLEARWATER – With one week left in the regular season, area teams are hoping to be peaking with district playoffs looming on the horizon.

After Saturday’s 5-2 victory and a home-and-home sweep of district rival Berkeley Prep, Calvary Christian is one squad that seems to be on the right path at the right time.

Whether it be offense both powerful and strategic, timely defense or a talented pitching staff, the Warriors proved itself to be battle-ready in dealing the skilled Buccaneers their first losses of the season.

“We know that any time we get the opportunity to play Berkeley Prep, it’s tough,” Calvary head coach Greg Olsen said of his fellow nationally-ranked opponent. “I’m just proud of the way our team went about its business. They played every pitch and got it done.”

It was an impressive circle of success, usually with junior Landen Maroudis and senior Nick Monile right in the thick of the positives.

Maroudis showed guts on the mound off the bat by quelling a first-inning threat where Berkeley (now 21-2) got leadoff man Cade Kurland (two hits and a walk) and Anthony Castillo on base but stranded them both in scoring position.

Then the bats of the Warriors (22-1) made the squander hurt more in the bottom of the frame when leadoff batter Sam Hunter (two hits) slashed an opposite-field triple to left-centerfield and scored on the first of three hits for Monile.

“I was looking fastball, I got thrown fastballs and I jumped on them right there,” Monile said. “We had to step it up, it’s next guy up every time.”

Maroudis trotted out his big bat in the second, drilling a triple that came within inches of clearing the leftfield fence, scoring Hunter and Monile for a three-run advantage.

Befitting a team with state title aspirations of its own, Berkeley Prep fought its way back into the battle in the fourth inning. With two outs, Joseph Troupe’s second hit of the day, a double to right-centerfield, scored James Hankerson, who walked. Drew Canody followed with an RBI base hit to bring home pinch runner Julius Pfau (Troy Reader was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game).But when Troupe was sent home on the same play, Monile fired a strike from centerfield and catcher Andrew Tess tagged the leaping freshman’s foot to end the inning and preserve the Warriors’ lead.
And according to form, the bottom of the fourth saw Calvary pad its lead when Monile scored on Maroudis’ gap-shot double. The Bucs wouldn’t get any closer the rest of the evening.

“We were trying to be aggressive there and score,” Berkeley Prep head coach Richie Warren said of the play at the plate. “Obviously it’s a deflating moment but at the time it wasn’t a game-changer, we were still in the ball game. Monile’s a heck of a player, made a great throw for a bang-bang play at the plate.”

Olsen saw it differently: “It’s huge. It’s a tie game and a great comeback (if Berkeley scores) and we’re fighting off a tough pitcher (in Bucs’ freshman Rivers Kurland). A great throw from Monile and Tess there with the tag showed a lot of toughness. It’s a game-changing play, right?”

The Warriors added insurance against Rivers Kurland (complete-game) in the sixth when cleanup hitter Dillon Costello put down a perfect safety squeeze that plated Monile.

Maroudis worked five innings, allowing six hits with four strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter, with senior Ethan Phillips facing one batter over the minimum to pick up the two-inning save.

After suffering its first loss against 813 foe Jesuit, Calvary rallied for a nine-game win streak “against very tough teams, one after another,” said Olsen. “Baseball is a game that teaches you something day-in and day-out. Our guys have risen to the challenge but we need to play better on Thursday (when it hosts New Port Richey River Ridge).

“We have to get a lot better if we want to compete for a district title or a state title,” Warren concluded. “We have to clean up a lot of stuff. The way we played the last two nights is not going to cut it.”

Berkeley Prep returns to action on Tuesday at Carrollwood Day.

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Calvary Christian 5
Berkeley Prep 2

BP 000|200|0 – |2|6|0
CC 120|101|X – |5|12|0
W – Maroudis (5-1); L – R. Kurland (4-1); S – Phillips (2)
2B – Troupe (BP); 3B – Maroudis 2, Hunter (CC). Records – BP (21-2, 4-1 in 3A-6); CC (22-1, 5-0 in 3A-6).