Before the game took place, the baseball game was the talk of the school. Students were asking others if they were going to the game. The players looked anxious to leave school and make the trip to Widener University. Rain threatened this, but luckily it held off, and the game was able to be played under a mixture of sunny and cloudy skies. Senior pitcher Ant DiGalbo took the mound for Bonner, squaring off against Ryan’s lefthander Steve “Ryan Sheckler” Merkle. Merkle tossed a one-hitter in the Raiders win over Bonner early in the season. The Friars wanted to jump out in front early like they did in playoff victories over Father Judge and Neumann-Goretti, but it was the Raiders who struck first. Ryan’s Mark Golic led off with a dribbler down the third baseline that appeared to be going foul, but slowed up and hit third base, earning him an infield single. Sean Kovacs followed with a walk. Kevin Mack singled to score Golic, giving Ryan a 1-0 lead. The next batter Eric Frain sent a ground ball up the middle to shortstop Josh VanHorn, who missed the ball by inches, allowing Kovacs to score. John Rizzo sent a single to rightfield, and Merkle also singled to right two batters later to put Ryan up 3-0. It seemed liked a rough day for DiGalbo, but he was able to get out of a bases loaded jam to keep the damage to a minimum. Bonner’s offense got going in the bottom of the second. First team All-Catholic Alex Liberatore doubled to left center. Steve Markus was then hit by a pitch. VanHorn made amends for his blunder, sending a two run double to deep right center. A couple batters later, Mike Haley sent a blooper down the right field line that fell in to score VanHorn. Leadoff man Rick Reigner doubled, scoring Haley from first, and Bonner took the lead 4-3 into the third. That was all the support DiGalbo would need as he allowed no runs and 6 hits the rest of the way in a tremendous outing. However, the Friars didn’t want to just give him four runs to work with. They put up a 9 spot in the fourth. It seemed like the green and white guys wanted to prove to all in attendance that they were the dominant team in not only the Red Division, but all the Catholic League and beyond, and finally earn some respect. Anyway, Matt Mullen led off the inning with a single up the middle. During Lib’s (Liberatore’s) at bat, a passed ball allowed Mullen to move up to second. But catcher Colin Budny could not locate the ball, so Mullen advanced to third on a heads up play. “The Liberator” would walk in his at bat. Markus then sent a dribbler back to the mound, where Merkle fielded the ball, turned to second, but threw it past the shortstop covering, and even eluded the center fielder. This scored Mullen and Liberatore, and Markus reached first safely. Catcher Paul Shepherd sent a double to center field. Senior Matt Ruggieri then singled to center, scoring Markus, but a nice throw by Ryan’s center fielder gunned down courtesy runner Mike Moran. At this point, it was 7-3 Bonner, and Ryan’s coach Ron Gerhart had seen enough. He called for reliever Eric Rudd. It wouldn’t help. Haley sent a single to left past the diving shortstop. Reigner hit a bloop single to right scoring pinch runner Jamie Juisti. It seemed like this inning would never end. Sam Christie put down a bunt attempting to move Reigner over, but on an errant throw to second by Budny on the play, Haley scored. Mullen returned to the dish to send a ground ball to third. The throw eluded first baseman Rizzo, and Reigner crossed the plate. Lib came up again and singled to right, scoring Christie. Another new pitcher took the mound for the Ragdolls, I mean Raiders. This lucky guy was Sean Kovax. But even he couldn’t help stop the bleeding, as Markus hit a 2 run single to right field. The inning finally ended when VanHorn grounded to third base. But the damage was done, and in a big way. Bonner scored 9 runs on 7 hits, and Ryan committed 5 errors in the inning. DiGalbo shut the Raiders down in the 4th. Bonner was looking for more in their half, but was mowed down by new pitcher Kevin Mack. While Reigner batted in this inning, the Bonner students chanted “MVP!” to the laughter of a couple of North Catholic players in attendance. Student Pat Flynn went on to say “now you can’t strike out! You will make us look really, really dumb.” Well, unfortunately Reigner did just that (smile). With Bonner up 10 runs, the mercy rule came into effect. If Ryan did not score in their half, the game was over. Well, Mack led off the inning with a bunt, but Shepherd came from behind home plate and threw him out at first. Frain popped out in foul territory to Lib for the second out. Then the loud Bonner crowd came alive one more time for the final batter. The ball was hit back to DiGalbo, who picked it up, tossed it to Lib, and bedlam erupted on the field, as well in the stands. The players, reminiscent to the Phillies World Series celebration, ran in and dog-piled on each other (some say it was a planned celebration. Who knows?).
They shook hands, and after some delay, the students poured out onto the field and joined in the celebration. “Let’s Go Bonner” chants erupted, and the fight song was sang….poorly. But it didn’t matter. The Friars celebrated on the field, and off later in to the night.
This group of Friars knows that even though they accomplished an incredible task, there is still work to be done. The District XII championship is at stake on Thursday. They’ll take on Central High School, Public League champions, for that honor at LaSalle College High School on Thursday at 2:30. Bonner wrote their names into the history books Tuesday. They look to continue their run and do something no Bonner team has ever done: bring home a District XII and state title.
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