Mustangs’ De La Riva dazzles in 1-0 win

Updated: May 28, 2011 3:59PM

It was a classic pitcher’s duel that took only an hour and 10 minutes to decide the St. Rita Regional champion.

St. Rita junior pitcher Eddie De La Riva, who was perfect for first four innings, hurled a complete-game, two-hitter as the host Mustangs, the top seed in the Class 4A Mount Carmel Sectional, edged No. 6-seeded Fenwick 1-0 for the regional title Saturday.

De La Riva (12-1 on the season), who set a St. Rita single-season record with his 12th victory, didn’t allow a Fenwick base runner until the fifth inning and wiggled out of a first-and-third jam with one out as he struck out the next two hitters to end the threat. De La Riva turned it up a notch once the Mustangs (30-6) took the lead in the bottom of the frame, fanning four of the final six batters.

“I knew I just needed to go out there and throw strikes and let my defense do the job because this is a good-hitting team (Fenwick) and I knew I probably wasn’t going to get a lot of strikeouts,” said De La Riva, who fanned seven and walked none. “Toward the end of the game (when he struck out six of the final eight hitters), I just changed my mentality once we had the lead and told myself, ‘I have to finish this game myself.’ I just went out and basically threw as hard as I could.

“Coach always told me to play to win, so I told myself this is when big pitchers make big pitches and it worked out,” he added as he took a shaving cream-covered wash cloth to the face from a teammate.

Fenwick (19-13) received a great effort from senior pitcher Tyler Sewall (five hits, two strikeouts, one walk), who threw a gem himself as his defense helped him remain unscathed on several occasions until the fifth inning.

St. Rita designated hitter Stefano Belmonte opened the frame with a line-drive single to left. The next batter, catcher Brian Sicher, attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but was unsuccessful. But with two strikes, Sicher lined a hit to center field, sending Belmonte to second with no outs.

Third baseman Nico Zych moved the runners up a base with a successful bunt, bringing second baseman Jake Thome to the plate. The senior proceeded to hit a high bouncer just over the head of a leaping Sewall, forcing Friars shortstop Joe Patzelt to make the play and take the out at first allowing Belmonte (2-for-2) to score the only run of the contest.

“Typical playoff baseball,” St. Rita head coach Mike Zunica said. “Their ace is on the hill, we have our top guy on the mound and you know it’s gong to be a one-run game. You can’t look at records or previous scores because when they’ve got their No. 1 on the hill and we’ve got ours it’s going to be that type of baseball game.”

Zunica said De La Riva, who orally committed to Purdue University last year as a sophomore, showed why he is the winningest pitcher in St. Rita history for a single season.

“Eddie hit his spots today and he pitched to win,” he said. “We thought he was aggressive and on the offensive — meaning he went after every hitter and, in the end, won the battle. It was a great effort.”

Fenwick head coach Dave Hogan agreed.

“A great game all the way around,” he said. “Tyler (Sewall) pitched a heck of a game and so did their guy. It all came down to a ball that just got over Tyler’s head. You can’t keep a good club like St. Rita from scoring — unless you no-hit them. We hit the ball all over the place today, but right at people. Their defense made all the plays.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.