Paul VI's Petrillo hits the ground running (and hitting) at the varsity level

CHERRY HILL – What Paul VI baseball coach Gary Sarno heard was on the level.

Jack Petrillo came ready to play as promised.

“We just got him up from the JVs,” Sarno said. “He's been practicing with us a couple of days. I heard great reviews from the JV coach, that he's ready to go. He had an opportunity today and took advantage of it.”

There were some nerves to deal with first, of course. Last week he was playing games on fields with no fences. Thursday Petrillo started in left field as the Eagles, ranked No. 7 in the South Jersey Mean 15, faced Olympic Conference National Division rival Camden Catholic.

It's a short bus ride from Haddon Township. Petrillo probably spent it with headphones on, as teenagers typically do.

What comes out of those headphones is anything but typical, though.

“I like old music,” Petrillo said. “Like Runaround Sue, by Dion – and I like the Beatles. Those are some of my favorite groups.”

Was there anything on his playlist that helped deal with butterflies in his stomach, though? Petrillo was feeling them like never before.

“It's the first time I was playing varsity, so sure, I was nervous,” he said. “I just tried to picture in my head, like I was playing JV; like it was any other game. It was hard at first, but I got the hang of it.”

What he needed, Petrillo said, was a nice can o' corn. You range over a few steps, you snag it – and then it's just another game.

Unfortunately, that never came. The Irish didn't send a fly ball his way and the game was 3 ½ innings along before he had to handle anything. Camden Catholic's Branden Clark sent a base hit to left field in the bottom of the fourth, and finally, Petrillo got to touch the ball.

“I think I had a couple, where I just had to go get it and throw it to the shortstop,” he said. “But that was pretty much it.”

One of the great things about baseball though is you get to play offense, too. There, Petrillo wasted no time getting comfortable. He drew a two-out walk in the second inning, moved up on a balk and took third on a passed ball.

In the fourth, he hit a one-out single.

“I got a break with the ground ball through third base and shortstop, but the double was a good hit – I'm proud of it,” Petrillo said.

It came in the sixth, with the stage set for him to move up from first-time varsity starter to hero, all in one day.

Petrillo came up after Elias Philiposian drew a one-out walk and delivered a drive to right-center field that chased him all the way around.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play, any way I could,” Petrillo said. “It was up and out and I tried to drive it over the second baseman's head. I was just lucky that I got some good lift. I did (think it was going to be caught) at first, but then I knew it was over. The coach told me to go and I kept going, into second.”

It was a short wait from there to see if his first extra-base hit at the varsity level was going to be a game winner. Camden Catholic's Kory Williams lined the first pitch of the home seventh into left field and Petrillo got to handle the ball for the second time.

Tommy Angelucci reached on a fielder's choice and then Christian Caminotti walked, but the Eagles brought in pitcher Declan Williams to get the last two outs – which he managed on just five pitches.

Petrillo, a Cherry Hill native, said he'd been playing baseball “pretty much his whole life,” mostly at center field and shortstop, but he can play anywhere in the outfield.

For the chance to be in the varsity dugout for the first time, he said, he'd put the catcher's gear on, if they'd asked.

Chances are it won't come to that. Petrillo's teammates welcomed him to “the show,” when the game was over, and well they should – his varsity batting average is 1.000.

“This is something I never did before, because I'd never played on the varsity,” Petrillo said. “I'm going to look back at it and think that I did well, and I'll try to replicate it in other games.”

John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, Courier Post and The Daily Journal. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow on Twitter @JohnLewis19. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Petrillo's debut a perfect one as Paul VI edges out a rival