St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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most of our lads fattened their averages considerably, Gibby emerged as chief hitsmith of the day with a homer and two singles. The first of May brought a beautiful Saturday on which to make the long trip to West Hartford for a game with the Kingswood Country Day nine that had visited us in 1947. It was McNabb's turn to ascend the rubber, and his pitching rival, Van Steenburgh, was hospitable enough to force in a run in the first inning to put us in front temporarily. In their turn at bat, the home team drew up on even terms with us, but we pulled away again in the third on I.ane's double, an error and a passed ball, Feeling that 2-1 was too close a hair, the Red and Black waited until there were two out in the fourth to weave two walks and two doubles by Andy McAuliffe and Henry Lane into 3 tallies that put us ahead, 5-1. That state of affairs lasted until the last of the sixth when Kingswood picked up another marker that seemed harmless enough when we neutralized it with two runs in our half of the 7th, thanks to two passes and singles by Grogan and McNabb. In the meantime, our twirler had been having his troubles in trying to work the corners of the plate and the many pitches he had been called upon to throw caught up with him in the last half of the seventh. In that frame, one single, two belated helders' choices, a pass and a wild pitch, -to say nothing of four errors - all conspired to change the picture radically and put us behind, 8-7. Disgusted with their ragged play, the team then proceeded to turn the tables by registering five times on clutch singles by jim Grogan, Bob NcNabb and Bob Kelly and going out in front, 12-8, To relieve the tiring McNabb, Andy McAuliffe took the hill for the last two chapters and fanned four batters, even though his wildness gave the home team two final tallies. When jack Boyle was hurt in our half of the 8th, Paul Carey went behind the bat and did a fine job of handling Andy's hooks, In the box score, Henry Lane was high man with two doubles and two singles, McNabb punched out three singles, Andy STAR BATTERY Bob McNabb and jack Boyle. :-I 164 I-1

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inflict and the result was that Bill Gibbons had only four putouts at the initial sack and Fred Elston was the only outfielder called upon to snatch a fly ball. In the eighth, Bob Joyce batted for Larry McAuliffe to make his first appearance in our Varsity Baseball line-up. On April 27th we journeyed to Taunton to take on the Monsignor Coyle High School nine only to find that they had had very little practice and could not offer much in the way of serious opposition, Andy McAuliffe made his first slab appearance of the campaign and it was evident from the outset that the home team would be puzzled by his southpaw slants. Neither side drew any blood in the first inning, but in the second frame Fish drew a walk, Grogan followed with a single and then the Coyle inheld fell apart, making three errorsg all of which combined to hand St. Sebastian's 3 big runs. To keep the ball rolling, jim Grogan drove in another tally in the fourth with a long fly that scored Billy Gibbons after the Westwood squire had singled and I-Iilt had doubled him to third. Toward the end of the game, the roof really fell in on the Coyle pitching staff when we chalked up 5, 2, and 6 runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th frames, respectively. Only three singles were made in the five-run 6th, but the wildness of the three Taunton hurlers who saw service in that stanza handed the tallies to us on a silver platter. Coming to bat after Lane had reached on an error in the seventh, Bill Gibbons drove out the longest hit of the day, a prodigious home run that landed in the waters of the Taunton River. Still we were not through scoring, for four solid singles interspersed with errors and wildness in the eighth added up to six runs and made the final score read: St. Sebastian's 17, Coyle 2. Andy was never in any real danger, for he passed only one man, fanned 16, and scattered the five bingles that he gave up in masterly fashion. Believe it or not, the game ended with McNabb, playing at second, starting a double play and using .Fran Kett and Bill Gibbons to complete the twin killing. Although OUTFIELD TRIO A. McAuliffe, Brooks, Joyce. 1-l 163 l-1

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OUT AT THE PLATE CLASSY FIRST SACKBR Andy McAuliffe lust Misses Registering Against Governor Dummer. Billy Gibbons ln A lfamilitr Po L and Kel had a double and single apiece, while Jim Grogan came through with two timely one base blows. Our other safeties were bingles by Hilt Collupy and Larry McAuliffe. l.arry's drawing a round of applause because it was his first of the season. Witli four consecutive victories, St. Sebastians entertained nearby Brookline High on May ith. only to be forced to accept its first defeat of the season, The XVL-althy Towners built up a 4-0 lead in the first three innings off McNabb's delivery, when two errors added fuel to the flame of two hits and two walks, In the third, fourth and fifth frames, the Red and Black picked up single tallies that closed the gap to -i-3, Henry I.ane's single getting the first score. four bases on balls producing the second, and Has- kell's two errors giving us the third. That was the closest we could come, however, for the visitors scored one in the oth, two in the Sth and another in the 9th, Wliile we had men on base in almost every inning. it was only in the ninth that we were able to chase them across the plate when Bob Joyce and jack Boyle hammered out singles to score two runs and make the final count, 8-5, Although he struck out ll men, McNabb's 8 walks plagued him as much as the 5 hits off his pitching, On our part. we were weak with the stick, getting only five singles that were divided equally among Kelly, Lane, Collupy, Joyce and Boyle. Our scheduled game with Huntington School had to be cancelled because of rain. so the School nine had a five day lay-off before taking on the Boston College lireshman team at St, Sebastian lfield on May ltlth, To add to the interest of the contest, lid Quirk, St. Sebastiatrs '-ici, was in the visitors' line-up and he added to our woes before the afternoon was over. Starting his setond pitthing assignment oi the season. Andi' McAuliffe retired BC, in the first without damage and then came to bat to blast a titanic ,-1 165 it