Confident John Downing keeps Chaminade baseball alive in chase for No. 1 seed in CHSAA playoffs

The Chaminade tightrope walk is underway. The Flyers haven’t made a misstep yet.

The final week of the CHSAA regular season features a critical three-game series between second-place Chaminade and first-place Kellenberg. The Flyers have a shot to snatch the title and earn the top seeding for the postseason, but they came in needing to win all three games with the Firebirds’ Magic Number at 1.

Ace John Downing kept the Flyers above the net on Wednesday with seven innings of three-hit one-run pitching as Chaminade raced off to a 7-1 victory at Cantiague Park. The Flyers got the upper hand with a two-run first on RBI hits by Matt Brandt and Nolan Nawrocki, however Tyler Burke broke the game open with a mammoth three-run homer in a four-run fourth inning that made the score 6-1.

"This was nothing short of a must-win game for us," Flyers coach Mike Pienkos said. "We can’t afford to lose even one game or else they finish first. That’s why it’s critical to have a guy like [Downing]. He’s as close to a sure thing as anyone in our league."

With the CHSAA not using neutral sites because of the coronavirus pandemic, the regular season champion will have home field advantage throughout the postseason.

Chaminade (10-3) has won seven straight and resurrected itself after a 3-3 start to the season. And as the Flyers head into the last two games of the series against the Firebirds (11-2) — they are Thursday and Saturday at Eisenhower Park — Burke said "we didn’t hit early but are hitting now...this is the best we’ve played.

"I know they are good, but I honestly think we’re the better team," Burke added.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Chaminade vs. Kellenberg baseball

Downing, a junior lefthander, stayed in the strike zone all game and constantly was ahead in counts. He recorded seven strikeouts against one walk and picked off the runner he put on with the walk.

"I went into this looking to attack," Downing said. "I had location with my fastball, but didn’t really have my curve. My changeup was filthy and I felt so good about it that I was throwing it in any count."

The Chaminade fourth started innocently enough for Kellenberg with two quick outs. Then Tom Lebrecht put down a bunt single and things were uncomfortable in moments. Lebrecht stole second and Brady Steinert followed with a line drive single to center with the run scoring on a slide just ahead of the throw from center. Vin Roman drew a full-count walk to set the table for Burke. He blasted a breaking pitch to left-center that traveled approximately 375 feet.

"Off the bat, I knew I got all of it," Burke said. "I saw the hanger. I just had to throw my hands out there . . . The ball had backspin — you know that’s good — and the wind was blowing out. Everything was there on that."

When the tightrope walk resumes Thursday, Chaminade will pitch righty JJ Gatti and the Firebirds will go with either Andrew Koshy or John Hughes.

"We’re hitting, we don’t walk people, we play great defense and we have depth," Downing said. "We need a sweep and there’s no reason we can’t do it."

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.