Published June 14, 2019
MELROSE—The Melrose Incarnation Baseball League playoffs provided plenty of drama and bracket-busting upsets at all levels. This year’s league has seen strong teams from top to bottom throughout the entire league and it really showed in the first round of the playoffs. Teams took to the Incarnation Fields off of Upham Street and fans came out in droves to see some top baseball action. Here’s a recap of the drama filled weekend:
Majors
Nationals 12 Athletics 10 – The Nationals pieced things together and came back from an early 8-1 deficit to defeat the Athletics 12-10. Charlie Finocchiaro keyed a late three run rally with a drive off of the center field fence to drive in what proved to be the winning runs. The Nationals’ Quinn Haggerty helped shut the Athletics down on the mound and strong pitching performances were turned in by Vishant Chawla and Vishal Chawla. Dante Lamentea game in and got critical outs for the Nats at a huge spot in the game. The Athletics were led by the dynamic duo of Eli Pezzini and Gino Presziosa whose veteran leadership has been a critical part of the team’s late season winning streak. Tyler Garipay provided the Athletics with outstanding pitching and helped to stake them to an early lead. Meanwhile, Erin Walsh, Rocco DiFruscio and Jack Burnham all put in gutty performances for the Athletics and their head coach, John Preziosa.
THE ROCKIES’ Owen Brodeur slides home to beat the tag of Jack Ruelle while Sam Madden watches on. (courtesy photo)
Rockies 13 Mets 7 – The Rockies built a big lead in their game against the Mets and held on to win 13-7. On a perfect night for baseball, the Rockies pitching tandem of Sam Mathews an Ethan Burns was more than enough to silence the Mets’ bats for most of the night. Meanwhile, big hitting from Mathews and Burns, Oliver Swart, Michael Wagner did damage for the Rockies on offense. A late game inside-the-park home run by the speedy Owen Brodeur sealed things for the Rockies. The Mets – as they have all year – fought back hard despite being down by ten runs late. Sam Madden, Jack Feeney, Adam Lambert, Jack Casey, Joe Brady, Billy Oldham and Dylan Mestjian were all part of big late inning rally. The Mets were led on the mound by Sam Madden and Adam Lambert who pitched well but were victimized by a lot of bloops and bleeders that turned into seeing-eye singles and doubles. The Cubs and Brewers await the Nationals and Rockies with the winners advancing to the Super Saturday championship at 5:45 pm on June 15th.
Minors
Padres 7 Giants 2 – The youthful Padres upset the Giants, 7-2, with both teams delivering dominating pitching. The Padres just inched out the Giants on the offensive side with all 11 Padres reaching base and 6 of 11 with hits. Both teams’ pitchers struck out 15. Giants starting pitcher, Ben Madden, served up 9 strikeouts against 12 batters faced. On the Padres side, Caleb Erelli allowed two early runs on defensive miscues but struck out 5 for his 2 inning appearance. Padres pitching further settled in from there with Colin Cote striking out 5 of 8 batters faced and Parker Siebel closing it out with 6 strikeouts. At the plate, the Padres heated up in the 4th and saw critical RBIs coming from Parker Siebel, Evan Drew, and Colin Cote. A hard fought game on both sides, the Padres ended up holding on.
Dodgers 8 Pirates 6 – In another upset, the Dodgers defeated the Pirates 8-6. Pitching was huge for the Pirates, but the Dodgers were able to manufacture runs and carry the day. Colin Migliorelli and Luke Mestjian pitched well for the Pirates, combining for 9 strikeouts. Holden Kutzen made a few great plays at second and roped a 2-run double in bottom 6th to spark a 5-run Pirates rally that came up just short. Dodgers pitchers also recorded 9 strikeouts and held Pirates to just 1 run in the first 5 innings. Logan Bridgeford started for the Dodgers, holding the Pirates to just 1 run. Gabe Klapman pitched in relief and earned the save to move the Pirates forward.
Coach Pitch
Royals 7 Twins 6 – The Royals beat the Twins 7-6 in extra innings, marking a major upset on paper but perhaps not an upset for any observer of the Royals’ season. The Royals are out to prove that the playoffs are all about what team is playing better on any giving day and that regular season records are irrelevant. The Royals started off strong with 5 consecutive hits from Royals veterans Liam Freeman, Ben LaSpina, Wyatt Green, Drew Saccocia and Isaac Santillo to plate three runs in the top of the first. Max Stratford and Danny Patch were once again a killer combo for the Twins and they were nearly able to help the Twins prevail – with the Twins tying the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to force extra innings. With two outs in the top of the 6th, Liam Freeman and Ben LaSpina both singled before Wyatt Green roped a ball into the outfield that plated Liam Freeman with the eventual game winning run.
Phillies 11 White Sox 1 – The Phillies marauded into the playoffs and defeated the White Sox 11-1. The Phillies were led by Russell Gentile, Will Cebene, Emma Little and Michael Lorizio. The White Sox team was powered by Matthew Mirek, Hayden Buchheit, Will Hennigan and Ben Law.
Marlins 8 Reds 7 – The Marlins built a 7-1 lead and were able to beat back a furious comeback from the Reds, ultimately prevailing 8-7. The Marlins built a 6-1 lead with a five run second inning. The big hit was a bases loaded triple from Caiyu Fidalgo, but every Marlin contributed to the rally with big hits from Owen Collins, Evelyn Dupnik and Raelin Sullivan. The Reds comeback was keyed by the timely hitting of Frankie Bates, Mason McLean and Adam Rasner. The Reds powerful combination of Cal Hoag and Andrew Cassavoy delivered with clutch line drive run scoring doubles. Ultimately, the Marlins prevailed defensively with a Emry Vanderhoof snaring a Cassavoy line drive and turning it into a double play. From that point the Marlins shut down the Reds bats and prevailed.
Remaining teams will play on Super Saturday – June 15th – with championships at all levels, skills competitions, a home run derby and more. See you there!
