O’Reilly stars as O’Hara shades Roman in baseball

The sunglasses are not an attempt to look cool. Or even kool.

For the next few days, however, Jeff O'Reilly might want to wear them nonstop, thus giving himself a better chance of fending off autograph hounds.

Many guys are familiar with hitting home runs in Roxborough's cozy John Boyce Field, which is used by Roman Catholic High for baseball games. O'Reilly smacked one yesterday, in fact, and it raised his high school career total, both the field and overall variety, to two.

Ah, but the 6-2, 235-pound righthander, a senior at Cardinal O'Hara, also pitched five innings of no-hit ball and wound up allowing two safeties while - drum roll, please - posting a 4-0 Catholic Red shutout.

A shutout at Boyce? Indeed. Promise. Week-late April Fool's jokes are not allowed.

Due to his homer, fired to exact centerfield, up and over a fence that's maybe 25-feet high, and into a pine tree, O'Reilly kiddingly said he wouldn't mind playing all of his games at Boyce.

Given time, he would have come to his senses. The place can be quite the hurler's horror. But O'Reilly thrived because he maintained a sensible approach.

"I wasn't trying to throw the ball through a wall," he said. "Usually, I run up big pitch counts. Today I was just trying to locate and get quick outs."

As for the shades, which feature gray rims and press tightly against his face . . . O'Reilly now wears them, while pitching and batting, because he wasn't quick enough to get out of the way at a practice early last May.

A thrown ball hit him flush in the left eye, causing him to miss the rest of the season.

"I couldn't get back to playing until summer ball started," he said. "It was frustrating, but it had to go that way.

"The sunglasses are mandatory, but they're not prescription. Just a precaution. I don't have any permanent damage. It's a little darker looking through those, of course, but there's really not much difference once you get used to them. I can still pick up the rotation on the ball."

Oddly, O'Reilly posted all five of his strikeouts in the first three innings and a backward K was needed for all.

With one away in the fourth, rightfielder Bob Smith raced forward and made a sliding catch to keep R.J. Vaughan from getting a single (or more). The fifth yielded a one-out threat after Paolo Gambaro reached on an error and losing pitcher Erik DeLone walked. A force play and popup followed.

Matt Stoffere opened the fifth with a no-doubt triple over Smith's head. O'Reilly preserved the shutout by fielding two comebackers - the second was hard-hit - while holding Stoffere, then milking a flyball to center.

Dan Sowisdral opened the seventh with a one-bounce low-liner to right for a single. Zip. Just like that, Mike Schneider, Nick Donovan and Steve Trainor turned a 6-4-3 doubleplay.

"I was aware I had a no-hitter going [into the sixth], but I wasn't too worried about it," O'Reilly said. "I just wanted to get the victory. I was trying to make good pitches, so they couldn't square the ball up.

"I had a no-hitter at age 11 in the South Marple Little League, so another one would have been nice. [Stoffere] turned on an inside fastball. It was in a decent location. He just got it."

O'Reilly's homer led off the fifth, expanding the lead to 4-0. He'd given himself a 1-0 pad in the third by drawing a bases-loaded walk; Devin McCann followed with an RBI single. Nick DiMarco had doubled home a fourth-inning run.

Of his swat, O'Reilly said, "In my previous at-bat, [DeLone] threw a first-pitch fastball right down the middle and I took it. I told myself, 'That's not happening again.' I was ready for it."

When asked whether he knew the ball would leave the yard, he seized an opportunity to poke fun at his chunky physique.

"I was hoping," he said. " 'Cause if not I was gettin' a single."

Almost always in high school ball, teams' No. 1 pitchers start the first game of the week. That did not happen Wednesday, however, as the Lions also topped Roman. Blame a stomach virus that felled O'Reilly Sunday and Monday.

"I'm just now getting my energy back," he said. "This is the first day I'm 100 percent."

O'Reilly, who lives in Springfield, not far from O'Hara, is planning to attend Penn State and pursue some branch of business. He also figures he'll try out for baseball, with pitching in mind (though he also plays first base, and bats sixth).

If he winds up in the spotlight, the sunglasses will again come in handy.