Marske, Nazareth mow down Saints

Updated: March 28, 2011 12:28PM

Nazareth is in uncharted waters, but the Roadrunners certainly look like they belong.

Ryan Marske pitched a three-hitter as Nazareth cruised past St. Charles East 8-0 Tuesday in Pool A winners' bracket action of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic at Benedictine University.

The Roadrunners (31-4-2), who are playing in their first summer state tourney, advance to a 5 p.m. Wednesday semifinal against the Pool B runner-up.

"Our program's building," said Marske, an incoming junior lefty who struck out five and walked two.

Evidence of that was the Roadrunners' recent success in the Class 3A playoffs; they've reached the supersectional each of the past two seasons.

"The experience of playing big games, I think that helped us," said Nazareth coach Lee Milano, who was an assistant when the Roadrunners started their summer program in 1996. "We had eight juniors on the field last spring in the supersectional.

"The last three or four years, the kids have put more of a commitment in. They've put the time in and worked hard."

The effort paid off big-time for Marske (5-1), who didn't allow a runner past second base.

"The defense played well and I was getting the ball over the plate," the 6-4, 175-pounder said. "(My) offspeed was working really well, the catcher (Justin Gonzalez) was framing it well."

"He got three pitches over for strikes," Milano said.

And he got plenty of help from Nazareth's hitters. Third baseman Anthony Baldassano was 4-for-4 wth a double and three runs, while left fielder Rob Petrak went 3-for-3 with a run and shortstop Michael Barajas finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and two RBI.

That didn't surprise Milano, whose team has seven players batting .400 or better this summer.

"I'm pretty confident in how our guys handle the bat," he said. "Our guys did a nice job of putting the ball in play."

The Roadrunners did all their scoring in three innings, getting two runs in the third, three in the fourth and three more in the sixth. Ryan Powers hit sacrifice flies in the third, and Baldassano and Barajas had RBI singles in the fourth. Barajas and Powers singled home runs in the sixth and Gonzalez hit another sacrifice fly.

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