Nick Pavia said his mentality doesn’t change from the regular season to the postseason. But catcher Joe Stabach doesn’t quite see it the same way.
The St. Joseph by the Sea ace elevates his game, Stabach said, as evidenced by his four-hit, complete-game shutout for the second-seeded Vikings in a 5-0 win against No. 7 Iona Prep at Kaiser Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University yesterday.
“He was throwing heat today, definitely very fast,” Stabach said. “He’s always a good pitcher in the playoffs, dominant. He had good stuff today, his curveball was very nasty. That’s what he does in the playoffs. He’s a big-game pitcher and he’s the best at it.”
It’s hard to argue with success, and Pavia has had plenty of it in the playoffs over the last three years. But the Wagner-bound senior said his team hasn’t been able to get that monumental postseason victory until Wednesday.
St. Joseph by the Sea meets No. 3 St. Raymond in the CHSAA Class A intersectional winners bracket this afternoon at Fordham University. The Gaels will take on No. 6 Monsignor Farrell at Salesian HS in an elimination game.
“In the last couple of years we haven’t been able to get those big wins,” Pavia said. “Today was a big win. They’re a good team. We been setting ourselves up all year, all the teams have been hearing about us. We just have to prove ourselves. Today was a good statement game.”
Pavia, who struck out eight in a brilliant performance, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but it was broken up when Matt LaSorsa reached on a bunt single.
“That stuff happens,” Pavia said. “Sometimes you can’t do anything about that. It’s just the game of baseball. I had good stuff, but it didn’t work out that way. We got the win, that’s the most important thing.”
Kevin Bartnett followed with a single to right, but Iona Prep’s potential rally was stymied when Cristian Fiorito popped out to Stabach behind the plate.
North Carolina-bound Colin Moran singled to right in the sixth, but Pavia got Justin Palladino to fly out to right and struck out Beau Kiklis to end the inning.
While Iona Prep (15-7) had few base runners, St. Joseph by the Sea (16-2) threatened constantly, stranding runners in each inning. But the Vikings weren’t frustrated.
“Keep doing this and it’s going to break through sooner or later because we were on them in every inning,” Sea coach Gordon Rugg said. “We felt if we kept the pressure going we were going to score eventually.”
That happened in the fourth when Stabach followed Anthony Battaglia’s one-out double with an RBI triple to center to put the Vikings in front, 1-0.
“We had so many opportunities today, just couldn’t get that big hit and Joe finally broke it open with that triple,” Pavia said. “He was huge today.”
Stabach was in an 0-for-9 slide before arriving at Kaiser Stadium, but he went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, including the critical triple that broke a scoreless tie and keyed a three-run fourth.
“We needed to put them away,” Stabach said. “It was a 3-2 count and I was sitting on a fastball and was able to drive it up the middle.”
Pinch hitter Rob Croccito drove Stabach home with a single up the middle and Matt Cangro’s RBI single gave Sea a 3-0 lead. Stabach drove in Nick Galli with a single to right in the fifth and Pavia tripled to right to bring home Cangro in the sixth.
That, Pavia said, more than throwing 118 pitches in 85-degree heat, is what made him tired.
On the mound, though, he was the same old Pavia.
“He’s got the guts,” Rugg said. “He likes the ball in the big games.”