Smyrna's Barkley shuts door on St. Mark's

Andrew Reich (6) of St. Mark’s pitches in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

St. Mark’s rallies at the mound in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Ryan Seymour (1) of Smyrna makes a throw from second in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Austin Colmery (2) of St. Mark’s catches a fly ball in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Brian Gilardi (1) of St. Mark’s bats in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Matthew Theodorakis (15) of St. Mark’s misses the tag on Shawn Dulin (2) of Smyrna at first base in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Matthew Theodorakis (15) of St. Mark’s bats in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Ryan Seymour (1) of Smyrna bats in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

Austin Colmery (2) of St. Mark’s dodges an inside pitch in a St. Mark’s at Smyrna baseball game on Saturday.

SMYRNA – Smyrna baseball coach Mike Henderson knew John Barkley could pitch well against top-ranked St. Mark’s. He saw the right-hander take it to the Spartans last year.

So Henderson brought Barkley out of the bullpen with confidence on Saturday, and the senior delivered with 1⅔ innings of scoreless relief to preserve the Eagles’ 4-3 victory.

“He threw well against them last year,” Henderson said of Barkley, who held the Spartans to six hits over seven innings in a 2-1 loss last season. “We knew we were going to go to him if Jeremy [Carrow] got in trouble. He knew. He was waiting.”

Carrow walked Matt Theodorakis with one out in the sixth, and Barkley came in and gave up a single to Chris Ludman. Then he got a strikeout and a ground ball to second to get out of the inning.

“I do a lot of relieving for us in those types of situations,” Barkley said. “It’s to the point now where it’s kind of my role, coming in at the end when it’s close like that. I had some butterflies, but I knew we would get it done.”

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His strategy was simple.

“I’m going right at them,” Barkley said. “I’m going to make them beat me.”

The Spartans (11-2) couldn’t do it. Barkley issued a two-out walk in the seventh, then got another grounder to second to finish it.

“Give their pitchers credit; they shut us down,” St. Mark’s coach Matt Smith said. “They did a great job. We couldn’t get a big hit when we needed one. We had the bases loaded and first and second, and they got out of the innings.”

Both teams did all of their scoring in one inning. St. Mark’s got out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the first, but the Spartans weren’t as fortunate in the third.

Smyrna’s Shawn Dulin and Carrow started the inning with singles, and Jared Gillis walked to load the bases. Thomas Penuel singled to center to score the first run, and Nolan Henderson and Ryan Seymour lofted back-to-back sacrifice flies to drive in two more. Then Dylan Snow came through with a two-out single to right to score Penuel for a 4-0 lead.

“I knew I had to hit the ball to right field. That’s what I do best,” Snow said. “I just backed off the plate, he threw it right down the middle, so I just did what I could do with it. It feels good to keep the rally going.”

St. Mark’s responded right away with three runs in the fourth, as catcher Thomas Gibb rocked a two-run triple and scored on an error. Then the Spartans loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth and had runners at first and second with one out in the sixth, but the Eagles (9-2) shut the door.

“I was impressed with our poise. We knew what we were getting ourselves into,” Mike Henderson said. “We knew they weren’t going to go away down 4-0, and we weathered the storm.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.