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Edgington pitches Pads by Bells

Serra belts Bellarmine for third time of season

By Julio Lara / Daily News Correspondent

Three times the Serra Padres have welcomed Bellarmine Prep of San Jose to Danny Frisella Memorial Stadium - and three times the Padres have proven to be shabby hosts.

Last month, Serra blanked the Bells twice en route to winning their home tournament. This time around Bellarmine managed to plate a run. An improvement, yes, but not enough to beat Serra on Friday afternoon as the Padres bounced back from a loss earlier in the week to win 8-1. The Padres have outscored the Bells 27-1 in the three games.

This time the Padres rode the arm of Zak Edgington, who threw a masterful seven innings, surrendering a lone run on two hits. Bellarmine managed only seven runners while the left-hander rang up four Bells.

Edgington did a superb job of staying ahead of hitters - 17 of 27 were welcomed to the plate by a first-pitch strike. The senior had a rocky first inning, throwing 26 pitches, he threw only 79 the rest of the way.

"I felt really good," Edgington said after the game, his arm draped with ice bags. "I felt like I had good stuff."

The feeling was very real for the Bells, with their lone run coming in the top of the second on a Kevin Jarvis bomb that probably landed somewhere on 21st Avenue. Despite the home run, there wasn't much to celebrate for Bellarmine, which was down 6-1.

Serra sent 10 men to the plate in its half of the first. Unofficially, the Padres sent 11, but Zack Turner was caught trying to steal third while Tony Cooper was taking pitches during his second at-bat of the inning.

Before that, the Padres found themselves with the bases loaded and no one out. Ryan Palermo got the real fun started with an RBI single to left center. One out later, Justin Maffei roped a single to right for run number two.

Serra got some unneeded assistance on the next at-bat when the Bellarmine third baseman shot-putted a throw to the plate on a Kevin McEntee chopper. The weird throw never really reached the plate and allowed another Padre to score. Turner followed the error by singling to left. Two scored on the base knock when the Bellarmine left fielder booted the ball into foul ground.

After Turner did his damage, Bells coach Gary Cunningham had seen enough. He removed his starter, Josh Nicholson. Patrick Lewicki was brought in and gave up run number six on a sacrifice fly to left courtesy of Brad Stirling.

"It was great to get the bats on track," Edgington said - this after the Padres had managed only five hits in a loss to Riordan of San Francisco earlier in the week. Serra had eight on Friday.

Despite what Edgington called a "get me over fastball" that Jarvis ate for lunch, the senior settled down and went to work with the six-run cushion. Once again, the first pitch strike was key.

"Once I get ahead, I can go to any of my four pitches," Edgington said - pitches that were biting even during warm-ups, according to the left-hander. While Edgington won't burn you with his fastball, his change-up was something else Friday afternoon, making his four-seamer a formidable weapon.

"That's definitely my best pitch," Edgington said of his change-up. "I felt like I could throw it in any count, in any situation."

Serra was quick to get back the run Edgington gave up in the second. After Tony Cooper just missed hitting one out, Tony Renda and Palermo got on base and were driven in by Kevin Daniele and Maffei, respectively, to push things to 8-1.

There wasn't any more scoring after that, but the seven-run lead was more than enough for the Padres. The win was the second of the season for Edgington and improved Serra to 3-1 in WCAL play.