On a cold and drizzly Saturday morning, the baseball team earned an impressive 5-0 win over Kennedy Catholic. The Gaels, who last year won 35 games and were the top-ranked Catholic school team in New York, traveled down from Somers, NY, just two days removed from a victory over Don Bosco, a perennial powerhouse in New Jersey parochial ball. But they proved no match for the Bears, as they mustered just five hits over the seven-inning game.

Georgetown-bound Jojo Franco took the mound for the Bears and loaded the bases with one out in the 1st on a pair of walks and a single, but bounced back with a strikeout and fly out to end the threat. After the Bears went down in order in the bottom half, Franco bookended a fly out with a pair of Ks for a 1-2-3 second inning. In the 3rd, he worked around a leadoff double and then pulled another Houdini act when he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 4th. The Bears finally struck first in their half of the 4th. Logan Charboneau walked, and Franco singled before Travis Stroud II singled to give The Brook a 1-0 edge. Seventh-grader Juju Martinez followed with a double that plated two to give the Bears a 3-0 advantage.

Franco opened the 5th with his eighth strikeout before putting two on with a single and a walk. Charboneau ended the threat by snaring a line drive and stepping on first for the double play. Franco gave way to relief to open the 6th, and the Gales started with a single, but the batter was erased advancing to second. Two walks followed, and Jayden Stroman was called to get the Bears out of another tight spot. He answered the bell with a pair of strikeouts to hold Kennedy at bay.

Franco extended the lead to 4-0 on the second pitch of the 6th with a home run to left field. A pair of Gael errors followed before a Devon McMorris single pushed the margin to 5-0. It was more offense than Stroman would need as he nailed down a scoreless 7th, during which he hit 93 mph on the radar gun, to cap the victory.

Franco earned the win with 8 strikeouts while giving up just 3 hits over 5.0 innings. Martinez (1 H, 2 RBI), Franco (2 H, 1 RBI), and McMorris (2 H, 1 RBI) paced the offense.

---