Paulino, D'Imperio Star as Irish Take Down Saint John's, 12-6

If you can’t beat them, join them.  A day after what was shaping up to be a tense late inning battle turned into a rout, Sacred Heart scored five runs in the last two innings to put away Saint John’s Prep 12-6 in Queens and even their season series at a game a piece.
 
The Irish fell behind to Saint John’s 1-0 in the first, only to score four in their half of the second.  Saint John’s walked the bases loaded to bring Junior Ben Leonard to the plate.  Leonard appeared to pop out to second, but his bat made contact with the catcher’s glove, resulting in a ruling of catcher’s interference, with all advancing a base.  Nick D’Imperio followed with an RBI ground out.  Junior Liam Coffey capped the scoring with a two-RBI single.  The Irish tacked on two more in the third inning when a botched steal came up aces for the Irish, as Saint John’s threw away the ball with a runner caught between second and third. 
 
Saint John’s was not about to lie down, as they plated three runs in the bottom of the third to cut the Irish lead to two.  In the top of the fifth, Ben Leonard created a run on his own after walking, stealing second and third bases and racing home on a high chopper to the pitcher.  In the home half of the inning, Saint John’s scored another two runs to reduce the Irish lead to 7-6, but they would come no closer. 
 
For the fourth time this season, Coach Matt Janeczko called on the Senior Nick D’Imperio to hold a lead late in the game, and once again, D’Imperio got the job done, scattering three hits over three scoreless innings of relief, while striking out five.
 
The Irish bats, however, provided D’Imperio with plenty of margin for error.  The Irish plated four in the top half of the sixth, keyed by an Elijah Paulino double (his second of three hits) and an Adrian Gallagher single.  The knockout blow came from Sophomore Billy Brauer whose two-out, two-run pinch-hit single put the game out of reach.  
 
The win moves Sacred Heart’s conference record to 4-5.  They next play out-of-conference opponent Mount Vernon High School on Monday at 4:30 in Mount Vernon.