Liam Collins tosses four scoreless innings, Saint John’s baseball shuts down Xaverian

SHREWSBURY — The Saint John’s baseball team’s win over conference foe Xaverian on Monday was the kind of victory coaches love to see.

The Pioneers played some small ball, made productive outs, and played strong defense to shut down the Hawks, 5-1, at Pioneer Field.’

Saint John’s starter Liam Collins wasn’t at his most dominant, but he relied on the defense behind him to help keep the Hawks off the basepaths.

“I think we have one of the best defenses in the state, and I’m just confident that if I put the ball in the zone and they put the ball in play, that my guys are going to make the plays,” Collins said. “It makes it really easy on a pitcher where I don’t have to nibble around the zone, and I can let the guys hit the ball because I know my defense behind me is always going to make the play.”

Collins went four shutout innings, allowing just two hits, walking three, and striking out four.

“Liam’s been awesome this year, he’s been unbelievable for us,” Saint John’s head coach Casey Cummins said. “He wasn’t his crispest today, his stuff wasn’t phenomenal, but overall he did a really good job battling, giving us a quality start, and then ultimately turning over to the bullpen.”

The Pioneers’ offense gave their pitcher a nice little cushion to work with in the first inning. Jackson Fournier sent the first pitch he saw to the outfield grass for a single, and August Brock followed up with another single. A passed ball put runners on second and third, and clean-up hitter Andrew DeHoratius singled home Fournier. Josh Bouchard followed up with a one-out sacrifice fly that Xaverian center fielder Jack Coen made a diving catch on against the wall, possibly saving a run for the Hawks.

Saint John’s Gabe Terlato led off the second inning with a double to right-center and swiped third, coming around to score on a sac fly from Jackson Lucarelli, making it 3-0 after two innings.

“I think our guys do a good job understanding -don’t try to do too much sometimes,” Cummins said. “Get it to the next guy, understand the situation, and understand what your role is.”

The Hawks threatened in the third, as pitcher Colin Mont helped himself with a single to left-center. Pinch-runner Grayson Mazza stole second and advanced to third on a fly-out for the first out of the inning. With the runner threatening, Collins locked in and struck out Michael O’Keefe before getting Coen to pop out.

Collins’ command started to falter a bit in the fourth, and he walked a couple with a strikeout in between to put two on with one out. After fielding a come-backer to him on the mound for the second out, he hit Liam Doherty to load the bases.

However, Collins made quick work of Mazza, striking him out on three pitches to escape unscathed.

“[I was] just taking deep breaths in between pitches, trying to stay locked in, not let the game speed up on me,” Collins said. “Just focusing batter by batter, pitch by pitch, to get the job done.”

The Pioneers added some insurance in the fourth thanks to a leadoff single from Bouchard, who moved to second on a hit by pitch and went to third on a nice bunt from Owen Miller. He scored on a deep sac fly off the bat of Lucarelli.

Xaverian pushed one across in the sixth as Nick O’Neil led off the frame with a double and came home on a single from pinch-hitter Matt Volk. But from that point on, the Pioneers’ bullpen locked it down, with Brad Perry tossing two innings and Kade Stauff pitching a scoreless seventh.

It was a nice bounce back for the Pioneers after a heartbreaking loss last Friday against St. Mary’s, when Saint John’s fell, 2-1, in 14 innings. That was a frustrating affair, with the Pioneers unable to cash in on scoring chances. But Monday’s game was the opposite: the Pioneers made the most of their six hits and found ways to push runs across.

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The stage is now set for a winner-take-the-conference-title game for the Pioneers on Thursday against Boston College High, with Saint John’s at 6-2 in the Catholic Conference after the win and BC High taking down St. John’s Prep on Monday to earn its sixth conference win.

The next two regular-season games after that are high-stakes for the Pioneers as well, as they’ll take on Chelmsford, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year, before the finale against cross-town rival Shrewsbury High on May 20.

“We’ve got three big games to get us ready,” Cummins said, “and this is when we want to be playing our best baseball.”