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Oglethorpe routs North Central

By Brian Egeston
be@brianwrites.com

By nature a stormy petrel, Oglethorpe’s misunderstood mascot, is a sign of doom. Legend has it, sailors aboard ships at sea believed the birds’ appearance foreshadowed an impending storm. Other folklore attests to the fowl’s ability to fly into a hurricane.

North Central College obviously did not include the metaphorical power of a mascot in their scouting report. The cardinals lost a 24-4 decision to Oglethorpe Tuesday night at Anderson field, the second loss to the team in as many days.

The Petrels fell behind in the Monday night game 8-1 through four innings, but held the Cardinals scoreless for the next five innings. Two three-run innings kept Oglethorpe in the game which they eventually won with the bases loaded and a hit by pitch in the 10^th inning. They would not leave the second leg of the double header to chance.

Oglethorpe baseball is undergoing a revival of sorts. The 27-man roster lists only two seniors, both of whom still remember losing 20 consecutive games as freshmen. Ten-game losing streaks in the previous years are still fresh in the mind of Head Coach Dan Giordano.  But the Tuesday night victory chalked up the Petrel’s nine game winning streak. For a team still finding its way, unlikely heroes lurk just about anywhere on the squad.

Andrew Llano’s RBI put his team on the board in the bottom of the first. North Central’s Joe Heller blasted a second-inning solo-run homer over right field as a warning shot across Oglethorpe’s bow.

Message received.

After Heller’s homerun, Oglethorpe started batting practice with four hits and three runs in the second inning, highlighted by a Joseph Parillo triple RBI.

The Petrels racked up three more hits and four runs in the third inning, North Central reached into the bullpen early, a move the Cardinal coaches made six times in the outing. Five out of the six Cardinal pitchers hit at least one Oglethorpe batter in the contest.

John Hale, the right-handed junior, was solid on the mound through six innings with two strikes outs and allowing only three hits and one run.

Llano, a 2005 St. Pius X graduate was 0-14 coming into the game. “I’ve played here for five years so I’m used to the field,” Llano said. The junior right fielder went five for six, including a two-run RBI in the fifth and homeruns in the fifth and sixth innings. He pitched for one inning and retired one batter allowing no runs. “I figured it was just a law of averages. Just a matter of time,” Llano added.

Parillo, not to be out done, took the field Tuesday night  for his first collegiate start. “He’s been working real hard and we rewarded him with a start,” said Giordano. “As you can see…he came through for us."

The Petrels batted around in the fifth inning. Parillo hit for a single RBI during his first time at bat in the fifth. On his second go around, the player they call Cannonball, stepped to the plate with bases loaded and hit a deep ball over the left field fence, making the score 18-1.

North Central wouldn’t threaten again until the top of the eighth with a three-run inning.  But the Petrel, that intrepid feathered friend of the sea, had already come and gone and the storm North Central didn’t anticipate, had done its brutal damage.

Eleven Oglethorpe  players registered hits in the game for a team total 21 hits. “We’ve been swinging it great all year,” said Giordano. “We preach keeping your hand inside the ball and let the ball come to you. The guys have worked hard and bought into the system.”

Head Coah Dan Giordano	Andrew Llano	Joe Parillo