MAY 17
CL SOUTH
Bonner 2, O'Hara 1 (10 innings)
  The second edition of Bonner-O’Hara for 2006 was nothing short of legendary. There were bus problems abound for the home Friars; the game having been moved to Neumann College. These problems led to the Friars arriving just about 30 minutes before game time. Ultimately, the Friars came out ahead in a 10-inning battle, winning 2-1 on the home side of the tenth. The two runs were scored by hard-hit balls on both accounts. Soph. 3B Matt Gallagher drove in sr. OF Steve DeBarberie for the tying run in the fourth inning. In the first inning, O’Hara had plated sr. P/OF Harry Duke for a 1-0 lead. The game was utterly quiet for both teams (as far as runs were concerned) until the 10th inning. Bonner led off with sr. OF Mike Dunn drawing a walk to set up sr. OF Tom Tarpey’s sacrifice bunt, moving Dunn to second. Sr. 2B Matt Kern grounded out, setting things up for jr. 1B/C Tim Dougherty to stroke the game-winning single to right field, scoring Dunn and capping a 2-1 win. This moved the Friars to 11-2 and O’Hara to 6-7, setting up the potential for a three-way tie for third and a coin flip to determine the bye to the semis between Bonner and St. Joe’s Prep. Early in the game, there was an equipment-throwing incident involving an O’Hara player. League rules state that on-field equipment-throwing will result in an ejection. The umpire either missed the incident or didn’t care about it and the game was placed under protest – until the umpire refused to sign the protest (which several wiser men tell me is an absolute violation of procedure – no matter the opinion of the umpire, the protest needs to be signed). The plate umpire was inconsistent for both teams, but the pitching duel ensued nonetheless. Bonner started sr. RHP Sean Fitzgerald, who threw six innings, striking out 9 and giving up one unearned run in this 218-minute marathon. Sr. OF/P Dan Leicht and sr. RHP Rob Graham combined for 4 innings of relief and, in total, struck out 8. The Friars left immediately from Neumann College and headed to the annual team banquet at the Lamb Tavern in Springfield. Literally, the bus transported the entire team – in uniform – to a night of revelry before the final Catholic League regular season game. Asst. John McCauley was the emcee for the evening and Temple Coach Rob Valli, along with former St. Joe’s and Villanova Coach George Bennett, were the keynote speakers. Sean Fitzgerald was voted the team’s most valuable player by his teammates and Tom Tarpey was given the coaches’ award by head man John Fleming and his staff.

APRIL 20
CATHOLIC SOUTH
O'Hara 14, Bonner 12
   All told, there were eleven pitchers used in a game that lasted just about three hours and fifteen minutes and saw 26 runs come across the plate. The game ended on O’Hara sr. INF/P Jonathan Szeliga’s three-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh to right centerfield. So much happened in this game that I couldn’t even get full stat lines on most of the pitchers! We’ll start off in the top of the first. Sr. C Ryan Hunt hit an RBI double after sr. OF Mike Coleman reached base. Sr. OF Steve DeBarberie and starting hurler Rob Graham both chipped in with RBI singles. Bonner batted around, with sr. OF Mike Dunn hitting a three-run double before the away side ended. All told, Bonner plated seven runs in its half of the first. Szeliga hit a two-run double after a walk to sr. INF/P Harry Duke and jr. INF/OF/P Pat Young reached on an error. From this point forward, Bonner scored only five runs to O’Hara’s twelve though Bonner never relinquished the lead until the final play of the game. In the Bonner second, Hunt came up again and hit a long double and got gunned out at third on a strong throw. Sr. SS Matt Kern walked followed by sr. DeBarberie’s single. Sr. OF/P Dan Leicht stroked a two-run triple to raise the tally to 9 to 2. Everything was quiet until O’Hara’s third inning. Duke led off with a bunt single and was then retired on a fielder’s choice, putting Young at first. Szeliga singled to set the scene for a three-run homer by sr. OF/C Rob Crowley.  Graham settled in and retired the next two for the Friars. Bonner’s bats were quiet until the fifth when Graham aided his own cause and stroked a double. So. INF Matt Gallagher hit a single to move Graham to third. The order turned over and Dunn cleared the bases with a two-run single. Dunn finished 3 for 4 with a double, two singles, and 5 RBI. O’Hara’s fifth was led off with Szeliga being hit by a pitch and Crowley hitting his second home run on the day. After that, jr. INF/P Marco Menna walked and pinch hitter jr. Jonathan Yuravage flew out to center. Immediately following, sr. INF/OF/P Tom Connelly grounded into a nicely turned 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. We pick it up again in the crazy O’Hara sixth. O’Hara scored four runs on an assortment of walks and hits. Bonner cycled through five pitchers during this inning – Graham, Leicht, sr. Chris Albaugh, Leicht again (reentry!) and sr. RH Sean Fitzgerald. Bonner’s seventh was unproductive. O’Hara’s seventh ended with the aforementioned walkoff. It was a wild game with the teams combining to use eleven pitchers. Graham threw 5 innings with 6 strikeouts and 5 hits. O’Hara used jr. Kevin Culbert, Duke, Connelly, Szeliga, jr. Mike Smith, and sr. Dan Caramanico. Somehow, they didn’t have to alter their batting order until Smith appeared in the lineup. Half their staff was already in the field. It was a nail biter and a heartbreaker for the Friars. There was one negative that really can turn a game sour. The plate umpire refused to allow anyone to touch the dugout fences all the way down both lines – which very well may be his personal preference. At one point he got into a little tit-for-tat with a parent sitting down the right field line on a hill; that  seemed rather inappropriate. The base umpire also seemed to have a knack for premonition – making a few calls a beat before the bang-bang actually happened for both teams. Bonner head man John Fleming went to argue one call and the home plate umpire told him that he couldn’t argue and to return to the dugout because he wasn’t the head coach. Coach Fleming informed the umpire that he was in fact the head coach. The umpire then said that under Federation rules the person who exchanges the lineup is the head coach and therefore assistant Gene “Fredo” Ferraiolo was the head coach. Needless to say, this seemed a little absurd and it would suddenly demote many Catholic League head coaches to the assistant level. Bonner’s famed center field barbeque made the trip over to O’Hara and ran quite an event. There was a huge number of Bonner fans lining the hill behind the first base dugout. Bonner currently stands at 5-1 in CL play and will close out the first half of the season at home against Carroll at 3:30 on Monday.

APRIL 14
SPECIAL REPORT
   For all TS.com faithful, we have some rough news to report. Longtime Bonner assistant John McCauley was injured today during practice. He took a ball to the arm during a soft toss session with sr. OF/RHP Dan Leicht. Details are sketchy at this point. This setback comes as JMac is set to have a one-game stint as acting head coach while head man John Fleming is away on business. JMac will be able to coach on Monday at West but his faculties may be impaired. Assistant Gene Ferraiolo will be looked upon to carry the team to victory if JMac is unable to continue into the late innings of the game. If Bonner plays West, also look for Huck to be there. Dusty Trails will issue a special report with Huck stories if any are made available to us.

APRIL 6
CATHOLIC SOUTH
Bonner 11, Roman 2
   The story of the day at Monsignor Bonner was that the weather had finally broken and appeared ready to cooperate with baseball. Indeed it did for the Bonner Friars and the Cahillites of Roman Catholic as they vied in the CL's second day of league action. The star of this show was Bonner's sr. RHP Rob Graham, who scattered five hits and fanned 10 over a complete game with a 12-to-6 curveball, a nasty slider, and decent velocity all game. Graham also chipped in for his own cause with a home run to the deep part of centerfield. Roman promisingly started off in the first inning with a homer to deep left-center from jr. CF Dom Joseph, a stellar fielder with the rare ability to track a ball from clear across the field. Last year at Bonner (if you know Bonner's field you'll know about the infamous hills in the outfield), he tracked what could have been a triple by then-jr. OF Tom Tarpey in the right-center gap from the hill in left center. He took about five steps and extended his glove to the wingspan of an eagle to make the catch. But for some trouble in the late innings with Roman scoring and doubling, the Friars rolled. From the second inning on Bonner plated 11 runs, led by the aforementioned homer from Graham, a two-run pinch-hit jack from jr. C Tim Dougherty, and a solo shot from sr. OF/1B Steve DeBarberie. There was a significant Prendie contingent there to cheer Doc on; in fact he later said via instant messaging that he couldn't have done it without them (but we can get back to that later). According to a report from Bonner senior Vinny Port, Doc broke a window with his shot. We will work to verify this. Doc has become a veritable team leader on the bench with his highly motivational techniques, namely his unorthodox chants and high, shrieking voices. Longtime assistant and alumnus John McCauley made his home field debut in league play today. JMac is responsible for game-day defense. Head Coach John Fleming has also added the role of pitching coach for this season, something he ably did over in Springfield for some-Catholic-high-school-that-Bonner-doesn't-talk-about-or-ever-acknowledge for six years. Bonner great Brian Nihill, an All-Catholic infielder in the mid-80's and proprietor of Nihill Sports Specialties, stopped by for a few innings. On a special note, props go out to sr. 1B/RP Colin "Russian Rocket/Rollie Fingers" Liberatore for his extraordinary inning of work on Tuesday at Penn Charter. With Dougherty behind the plate, Colin closed out the game. Coach Fleming called for a curveball only to find that Colin threw a fastball. Sr. C Ryan Hunt had to inform Coach Fleming that Colin's deuce was in fact his fastball. On Sunday, Bonner takes on Perkiomen School up in Perkiomen. Next up in league action is Neumann-Goretti down in South Philly on Monday afternoon.