The Record Blogs: Off the Record: LSI bats pounce on CCHS; Roseboom Ks 15

With a potent mix of offense and pitching, the La Salle Institute baseball team cooled off a red-hot Catholic Central High bunch, 16-0, Monday afternoon at Geer Field.

Matt Mainello, La Salle Institute's right fielder, shows off his sweet left-handed swing during Monday's Big 10 Conference game against Catholic Central High School. (All photos by Tom Killips - The Record).

From the No. 1 spot to the No. 9 hole, La Salle Institute's hitters simply raked Monday afternoon against Collar City rival Catholic Central. All nine starters scored at least one run, but the big hero with the bat was Central Connecticut State-bound senior second baseman J.P. Sportman.

Sportman tripled in the first inning, singled in the third and doubled off the wall in the fourth and sixth innings, finishing the game 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored.

La Salle used 16 hits to scored 16 runs and Dave Roseboom struck out 15 on the mound with just one hit allowed in the 16-0 victory for the Cadets.

In addition to Sportman's exploits, Zach Remillard and Garrett Bernardo added three hits apiece. Will Remillard, Garrett Bernardo and Matt Mainello each drove in two runs.

The Cadets (8-1, 8-4) also drew three walks and were twice hit by pitches. The Crusaders (5-4, 7-4) also made four errors in the field and allowed runs to score on errors (twice) and once on a balk.

Still, Sportsman's monster blasts to right and left center field drew the attention of his teammates and the crowd of parents and siblings around home plate.

"He is a very talented player," La Salle head coach Jesse Braverman said. "As he continues to play within himself, boy, he can do an awful lot. He’s what we call a five-tool player."

La Salle's 1-through-5 hitters all came around to score in the third inning. The 1-through-8 hitters, with the exception of Will Remillard, who drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, came around to score in order in the fourth.

La Salle's Zach Remillard steals second base beyond the tag of Catholic Central's Matt Miller during the third inning of Monday's game. Zach Remillard singled three times and scored three runs in the 16-0 victory.

Roseboom pitched a great game for the Cadets - more on that later - but his catcher, Will Remillard, drew high praise from his coach and his batterymate.

"Will has just become such a wonderful defensive catcher," Braverman said. "His receiving, his blocking, his throwing...he’s really put it together. He’s truly is a catcher that is ready to catch in college now."

He'll be doing just that at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2011.

"I still struck out the side that inning (the seventh) because Will did a great job with the lefties framing that outside fastball," said Roseboom. "I couldn’t ask for him to do a better job back behind the plate."

The rest of the defense more or less had a day off Monday as the Crusaders hit just six balls into play. One was a hit, three were fly balls to right field, one was a bunt attempt fielded cleanly by Remillard and one was a ground ball to first base.

La Salle senior Dave Roseboom winds back for a pitch during Monday's game against Catholic Central at Geer Field.

South Carolina Upstate-bound southpaw Dave Roseboom had his way with a red-hot Catholic Central team Monday afternoon. The Crusaders had outscored opponents 39-19 on a four-game win streak, but that changed in a hurry.

Roseboom struck out two hitters in each of the first and second innings and recorded his final eight outs all via the strikeout.

His bid for a no-hitter was broken up by CCHS catcher Bradley Adams on the first pitch of the seventh inning. For more on that story, check out Tuesday's edition of The Record and watch the video below.

It looks like La Salle and CBA are all set for a major Big 10 showdown on Friday, May 14.