Through the first three games of pool play, the Guilderland Bulldogs proved that they can play with the best Babe Ruth teams in the country.
The problem for Guilderland is that it can’t seem to beat the best teams in the country on a regular basis.
With Monday morning’s 4-1 loss to Atlantic Shore (N.J.), the Bulldogs’ record fell to 1-2 in pool play at the Babe Ruth World Series in Clifton Park. They needed a victory over Tri-Valley (Calif.) Monday night to have a shot at a berth in the championship round, which begins Wednesday at Clifton Common.
I’m very proud of how our team has pitched so far. We’ve given up a total of eight runs in three games, said Guilderland manager Brian Grabek. `The downside is that we haven’t gotten the big hits that we’ve needed.`
Guilderland had a chance to break the game open in the first inning when it started Sunday evening. Brandon Das led off with a double and scored on a bases-loaded walk to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead, but they couldn’t get anything after that.
Atlantic Shore (1-2) battled back with four runs in the third inning before rain halted the game. Neither team scored another run when it resumed Monday morning.
Guilderland entered its game with Atlantic Shore off an impressive 5-2 victory over Glen Allen (Va.) Saturday.
The Bulldogs took the lead with three runs in the second inning. Two runs came home on a Glen Allen error, and the third came in on Brandon Peda’s RBI single.
Glen Allen got one run back before Ryan Cullam drove in two runs with a fourth-inning double for the Bulldogs.
Guilderland began the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Jasper (Ind.) Friday.
Bulldogs pitcher Alex Varsanyi allowed two runs on six hits over six innings of work, but he was out-pitched by Jasper’s Craig Shepherd, who limited Guilderland to one run on five hits over seven innings.
The efforts by Varsanyi, Matt Pierce and Nick Chiseri on the pitcher’s mound did not go unnoticed by Grabek, who said his starters got the job done.
`I knew I had six really good pitchers on the team, and I expected them to do well to keep the scores down,` said Grabek.
Guilderland needed one more strong pitching performance in Monday night’s game against Tri-Valley if it had any hopes of advancing to the championship round.
The Bulldogs were originally scheduled to play Tri-Valley Tuesday night, but the game was pushed ahead one day when rain forced two Sunday games to be moved.
`I’m not happy about it. We should have had an off day before playing Tri-Valley,` said Grabek. `But Tri-Valley has to play a full doubleheader [Monday].“