Baseball: McKevitt, Marist Mow Down Sandburg

Touching All the Bases: John McKevitt, pitching for the road team, scored a hometown victory. McKevitt tossed a three-hit shutout in Marist’s 4-0 baseball victory over Sandburg on Monday afternoon in Orland Park. McKevitt lives in Orland. He grew up playing with many of the Eagles before enrolling at Marist. He mowed down his old friends by spotting his fastball and mixing in his curve and changeup, too. He also doubled and scored a run. Ryan Meyer blasted a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning as the RedHawks won for the seventh time in nine games.

Patch’s MVP: John McKevitt, senior right-handed pitcher, Marist. McKevitt (3-1) tossed a three-hit shutout. He struck out three and walked three. He took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fourth. Sandburg’s Austin Cangelosi when he reached on an end-of-the-bat single to left. All three of the Eagles’ hits were singles.

Marist Leaders: Cody Bohanek (1-for-3, sacrifice), Ryan Meyer (1-for-4, two-run homer, 1 run, 2 RBIs), John McKevitt (1-for-3, double, 1 run), Jim Carroll (2-for-2, sacrifice fly, 1 RBI), Josh Pfotenhauer (1-for-2), Conor Funk (1-for-3, double, 1 run).

Sandburg Leaders: Austin Cangelosi (1-for-2), Zach Reks (1-for-3), Alec Nelson (1-for-3).

Quotable I: “Yeah, basically, I throw a lot of first-pitch fastballs, just to see what they can do,” Marist senior right-hander John McKevitt said. “Then, I’ll try to work my off-speed stuff when I’m ahead in the count. I’m from Orland. I played baseball with half these kids when I was growing up. They’re always a good baseball team. They’re always a good challenge. So, it feels good. This is like a hometown win for me.”

Quotable II: “John (McKevitt) has been tough all year,” Marist coach Tom Fabrizio said. “When he gets a first-pitch strike over and is able to switch speeds with his changeup and breaking ball, usually good things happen. Our defense played well behind him (Marist turned two double plays), which we have all year. He’s done a nice job for us.”

Quotable III: “There was a good pitcher on the mound,” Sandburg coach Jim Morsovillo said. “But we’re letting fastballs go early. Then, he’s getting ahead of us and now he’s keeping us off balance. The flip side—their team—they were very aggressive early in the count. They didn’t miss the fastballs that we threw to them. That’s the approach we need to have. And we didn’t do it.”

Team Records: Marist is 7-2. Sandburg is 3-2-1.

What’s Next: Thornwood plays at Sandburg on Tuesday (April 3). The first pitch is at 4:30 p.m. Chicago Harlan is at Marist at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (April 5).