By Greg Dudek
WESTWOOD – Pitching and defense can carry teams a long way.
On Thursday, that exact combination carried the Xaverian High baseball team to victory.
Seniors Zack Sette and Colby Lewis combined for a two-hit shutout and received terrific defensive play behind them to aid the Hawks in a 3-0 non-league win over Newton North.
“Most of our games this year, we’ve had to scratch and grind out a couple of runs and hope that’s enough,” said Xaverian head coach Gerry Lambert, whose team improves to 5-1. “Zack was wonderful. Colby did a great job in relief and our defense picked us up when we had to.”
After allowing a hit and a walk to begin the game, Sette (five innings, two hits, three walks, four strikeouts) settled down to retire the next 10 batters he faced.
He got some big time help from his defense in the fifth when senior second baseman Troy Shepherd took a hit and a run away from Newton North (3-1) with a diving stab.
Xaverian’s defense didn’t change to start the sixth when Lewis came in, as senior shortstop Bryan Hart ranged far to his left to get a grounder, spun around and fired on to first for the out.
“For us to turn what’s essentially a hit into an out is a real big play by Bryan Hart,” Lambert said. “Troy’s diving catch was huge.”
With the pitching and defense holding down Newton North, Xaverian didn’t need much offense, but got some from junior AJ Ryan in the fourth.
With two on and two outs, Ryan hit a double over the center fielder’s head to plate both runners for a 2-0 lead. Senior Blake DeCarr added a run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
“(Ryan) has been our biggest guy in the clutch,” Lambert said. “He’s come up two or three times in big spots and delivered big hits.”
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