Truss leads Chaminade to 1-0 series lead

All of a sudden, St. Dominic had some life. Steven Goldstein had just led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run to pull the Bayhawks within one. A meeting ensued on the mound for Chaminade and the message was received by pitcher Eric Truss.

The Chaminade righthander brushed off the homer and retired the 2-3-4 hitters to end the sixth. The offense provided some extra cushion with five runs in the top of the seventh to give No. 2 Chaminade an 8-2 win over No. 1 St. Dominic Sunday in Game 1 of the CHSAA best-of-three baseball finals at NYIT.

Game 2 is at 11 a.m. Monday at NYIT. If necessary, Game 3 will follow.

Truss pitched six innings and allowed four hits and one earned run to improve to 8-0. He struck out four, including two in the sixth, and didn't walk a batter.

"I didn't feel too bad about giving that home run up," Truss said of Goldstein, who went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. "He's one of the best hitters around. I was trying to get back my focus and get the next three. To get through the sixth inning and have the lead was huge."

The key inning of the game was the third. Chaminade scored three runs for a 3-0 lead without getting a hit. With two outs and none on, a throwing error and dropped fly ball by St. Dominic (17-5) put runners on first and second. Joseph Duarte then walked to load the bases, and Ryan Hopke walked to force in a run. A throwing error on the next batter led to two more runs as Chaminade (17-4) never trailed.

If there ever was a tough-luck loser, it was St. Dominic starter Rob Galligan. He went six innings and allowed four hits, no earned runs and struck out six with two walks. He threw 30 pitches in the third inning.

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"Galligan threw a hell of a game. You can't ask your pitcher to do better than what he threw," St. Dominic coach Rick Garrett said. "He's one of the best pitchers in the league."

Hopke started the seventh with a single and Michael Ferranti put down a bunt that led to an error. Terrence Connelly reached on a bunt single and Tommy Roulis hit a two-run single for a 5-2 lead. Shaun Caulfield followed with a two-run double after striking out in his first three at-bats.

"I couldn't really see the ball well," Caulfield said. "For me to come back with that hit was a great morale booster. Anyone in the order could have done that. It was just my turn."

Chaminade committed two errors, but also made some good defensive plays, including turning three double plays as Truss induced nine ground balls.

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"He's a gutty kid," Chaminade coach Mike Pienkos said of Truss. "He never panics and threw the ball over the plate. He threw strikes and that's what we want."