Monday was supposed to be South Colonie’s day off from the Babe Ruth World Series, but last weekend’s rain forced the eastern New York champions to play an early morning game against Portland, Maine.
The early wake-up call didn’t bother South Colonie, though. The Cook Park crew used timely hitting and smart baserunning to defeat Portland 5-2 and raise its pool play record to 2-1 heading into Tuesday night’s game against Kelso, Wash., at Clifton Common.
Is there a better reason to get up at 7 in the morning than the World Series? said South Colonie manager Jeal Sutherland. `Christmas doesn’t even compare to this.`
Ron Notar put South Colonie on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning. He led off with a double, advanced to third on pitcher Derek Zielinzki’s groundout and scored on a squeeze bunt by Paul Nylin.
The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning. South Colonie loaded the bases on an error, a hit batter and a bunt single by Steve Crouse. Matt Vetrone singled to drive in Liam Keegan and Eric Birdsall, and Andy Carucci bunted in Crouse to make the score 4-0.
`At that point, we knew that (Portland) pitcher was in a world of trouble,` said Sutherland. `The clutch hits that we didn’t have against Jefferson Parish (in a 4-3 loss last Friday) we got today.`
Portland got to Zielinski ` who pitched four no-hit innings ` for a run in the bottom of the fifth, but South Colonie responded in the top of the sixth. Nylin led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on groundouts by Keegan and Matt Weinman. Pinch hitter Dan Madelone then singled into right field to drive Nylin in for a 5-1 South Colonie lead.
Portland rallied for another run in the bottom of the sixth inning off Zielinski, but Chris Smith ` the Game 1 starter ` got the final out of the sixth, and Keegan pitched a perfect seventh inning to slam the door.
Zielinski earned the win after allowing two runs on three hits and striking out six Portland batters.
`I was not surprised to see how he handled the Portland lineup,` said Sutherland. `He had all three pitches working today. He just ran out of gas in the sixth inning, but Chris Smith got us out of it with one pitch.`
The victory over Portland sets up a simple scenario for South Colonie to advance into the championship round ` just beat a Kelso team that Sutherland said has a tendency to swing away.
`They’re a loose-swining bunch, but when they connect, the ball really travels far,` he said.
South Colonie opened the tournament last Friday with a tough 4-3 loss to Jefferson Parish, La. ` last year’s 14-year-old division World Series champions.
South Colonie led 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning when the wheels started coming off. Chad Guidry worked a leadoff walk and then moved to second when Mason Katz’s infield pop-up was misjudged and fell for a base hit. Guidry went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Joe Palmer’s sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at 3.
Two more South Colonie errors led to Jefferson Parish’s final run in the seventh inning. Cory Guidry led off by reaching first on an error at third base. Chad Guidry then followed with a bunt single, which led to a throwing error that moved Cory to third base. After an intentional walk to Katz loaded the bases, Ryan Holstein singled in the winning run.
`That’s what happens with a good team,` said Sutherland. `You battle, you battle, you battle. You get to the third time in the lineup, they’ve seen you two or three times, and if you don’t make the play your supposed to make, that gives the edge to the other team. Now, they’re in a very comfortable spot to make you pay for your mistake, and that’s what we did. They outplayed us at the end.`
South Colonie took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Nylin reached on an error and went to second on Carucci’s single. Nylin then stole third base and scored when Katz’s throw to third on the play went into left field. Carucci went to third on the overthrow and scored on Zielinski’s single.
Katz made up for his throwing error in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run home run over the left field fence to tie the game, but Matt Weinman gave South Colonie the lead back in the top of the second. Weinman singled, moved to second on Steve Crouse’s infield single, stole third and scored on Vetrone’s squeeze bunt.
That was the last run for either team for the next three innings, as both starting pitchers ` South Colonie’s Chris Smith and Jefferson Parish’s Jordan Rittiner ` settled down. Smith worked his way out of trouble in the second and third innings and finished with a complete-game six-hitter, while Rittiner allowed only four more hits over the next four innings on his way to the victory.
`I thought we were going to get to this guy (Rittiner),` said Sutherland. `We got four hits off him in the first two innings.`
South Colonie rebounded from its disappointing loss to Jefferson Parish by edging Youngstown, Ohio, 3-2 in a game that took two days to complete due to rain last Saturday.
Carucci was South Colonie’s hero. Not only did he pitch four innings of scoreless relief Sunday to earn the win, but he also belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give his team the lead.
`He did a great job,` Sutherland said of Carucci, who scattered three hits and struck out four batters.
Youngstown took the lead in the top of the first inning on Jason Bagoly’s two-run double off Nylin, but South Colonie chipped away over the next two innings. Zielinski led off the bottom of the second with a double, went to third on a balk and scored on Nylin’s groundout to third base to cut Youngstown’s lead to 2-1. Then in the third inning, Carucci doubled, went to third when Notar’s grounder was mishandled for an error and scored on another balk by pitcher Pat O’Brien to tie the game.
At that point, the rain started falling heavily at Clifton Common, and the game was stopped after the third inning. When it resumed Sunday morning, both starting pitchers were out of the game.
`Hindsight is 50/50 instead of 20/20 in this case because of the way things wound up,` said Sutherland. `But initially it hurt us because Nylin had regained his focus in the second and third innings, but we couldn’t go back to him (Sunday) because his arm was too sore.`
Youngstown threatened in the top of the fourth when Anthony Franceschelli hit a one-out single, moved to second on a passed ball and reached third when Shawn Roman’s grounder was mishandled at third base. Roman was caught stealing second, though, to help Carucci get out of the inning unscathed.
That was the last time Youngstown got a runner to third base. The Ohio Valley region champions got their leadoff hitters on base in the sixth and seventh innings, but Carucci received some timely plays from his defense to work out of any potential problems and pick up the win.“