MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Senior right-hander Luca Dalatri struck out a school-record 19, walked one and fired a complete-game three-hitter while throwing 122 pitches to lead Christian Brothers (Lincroft, N.J.), No. 21 in the latest Super 25 baseball rankings, to a 3-1 win against Middletown South.
Dalatri, the 2015 Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year in New Jersey, improved to 3-0 on the season and 28-2 for his career, including a run of 23 straight wins since the start of the 2014 season. He has now struck out 44, walked one and allowed one run on 12 hits in 21 innings this season.
With just seven more victories, he will break the Shore Conference record for wins in a career set by 2006 Toms River East graduate Casey Gaynor.
Dalatri, who has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at the University of North Carolina, pitched the eighth even after he said CBA assistant coach and pitching coach Marty Kenney Jr. had told him his day was finished after the seventh and 111 pitches.
“I just wanted the ball,” said Dalatri, who said he convinced head coach Marty Kenney Sr., who then convinced his son, to let him go out for the eighth. “I felt comfortable doing that.”
“He was a bulldog out there. He toughed it out. I know he was tired,” catcher and fellow UNC-signee Brandon Martorano said. “He was big for the team and my hat goes off to him.”