’Canes seek D-II title after first-place finish

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 6/4/15

Beating the Warwick Vets baseball team once is possible, but don’t count on it happening twice.

In a double-elimination bracket for the Division II Championship, the Hurricanes would have to …

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’Canes seek D-II title after first-place finish

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Beating the Warwick Vets baseball team once is possible, but don’t count on it happening twice.

In a double-elimination bracket for the Division II Championship, the Hurricanes would have to fall two times to get knocked out entirely. With the way they have played mostly all season, there is a slim chance that will happen.

Vets opened the season 13-0 and finished the season on another four-game winning streak to end up 17-2 overall (16-2 in league play). In between, it struggled a bit with losses to West Warwick and Classical. It bounced back immediately, though, when it beat the Purple on the road in its next game. Classical (5-13) is the only bad blemish on its record as West Warwick finished tied for fifth at 12-6.

Against the other top-five teams in D-II, the Hurricanes were perfect. In their fourth game of the season, they blew out Scituate (12-6) at home, 10-1. Second-place Mount St. Charles (15-3) and Prout (13-5) each lost 2-1 tilts to Vets at different points in the year. Tolman, tied for third with Prout at 13-5, was beaten twice at opposite ends of the season by scores of 9-2 and 6-5.

The Hurricanes’ veteran pitching staff will be a tremendous factor if Vets is to capture its first Division II Championship. It has allowed just one team to eclipse five runs in a game, which happened during its 6-5 home upset against Classical. Vets has held opponents to just two runs or fewer on 12 different occasions and is 12-0 in those games. Its pitching has held opponents to only 37 runs scored, the best in Division II. Prout is the next closest school in that category, allowing opponents to plate 50 runners this season.

Leading the way for the Hurricanes is senior ace Shane Kittila, who dazzled this year with a perfect 8-0 record and a microscopic 1.29 ERA. Kittila’s WHIP is only .939 over 49 innings pitched and he has as many strikeouts.

Backing him up are the likes of senior Austin Lamaire and junior David Simmons. Lamaire allowed 28 hits over the course of 25 2/3 innings this year, but posted a record of 4-1 with a 3.27 ERA despite those numbers. Simmons went 3-1 on the season with three starts and an ERA of just 0.65. He also struck out 40 in 32 1/3 innings while managing a remarkable .681 WHIP.

Hendricken transfer David Defusco and senior Jesse Holland comprise the rest of the pitching staff, and have been solid in starts and relief as well, as both had ERAs under 1. Defusco went 3-0 with a 0.50 ERA in four appearances (two starts) and Holland went 1-0 for the Hurricanes in two appearances (one start) with a 0.88 ERA.

Vets’ pitching will be there, but the hitting has to overcome some recent struggles to get there too. The Hurricanes averaged 6.4 runs per game over their 13-game hot streak to start the season. However, starting with its shutout loss to West Warwick on May 15, Vets has only managed 4.1 over its last six. Some of its elite players, including double-threat Defusco, will have to step up.

Sophomore Defusco is the Hurricanes’ greatest offensive machine, batting at a superb .411 clip with a team-leading five triples, three home runs, 21 RBIs and .767 slugging percentage. He has also managed 14 walks but struck out 12 times, too. Vets has five other everyday players batting above the .300 mark with on-base percentages above .400, and will need all of their help to get back to their hard-hitting ways.

Seniors Tyler Dipetrillo and Jeremy Batista have combined for 25 RBIs on the season and sit second and third, respectively, in batting average at .396 and .379. Dipetrillo’s .479 slugging percentage was good for second on the team behind Defusco, and Batista cracked a team-leading 25 hits this year.

Junior Jarrod Houle reached base just about as much as Defusco, falling just .002 percentage points behind him for the lead in OBP, with 13 walks and 14 hits while driving in 10 runs. Junior Christopher Reid tallied 23 hits, which ties Defusco for the team lead, while also being issued 13 free passes. Senior Aaron Dorsey and Lemaire have both registered three doubles on the season while compiling at least 16 hits each. Dorsey has flashed some speed, too, with 11 stolen bases.

Vets is the best team in Division II for a reason, as it has the best pitching staff top-to-bottom and just about everyone in its lineup can get hits and reach base at a consistent pace. The pitching will always be there, and the offense has to show the consistency they did to start the year, but the biggest factor going in the Hurricanes’ favor is the double-elimination bracket. They just don’t lose to the same team twice.

Classical defeated the Hurricanes once, and were promptly shut out in their next matchup with them, 2-0. West Warwick would be a tough second-round test, but the Wizards will have to get through Tolman first. West Warwick lost both games against the Tigers this year, 8-5 and 4-2, at home and on the road respectively.

The Hurricanes have lost two in a row this year once, but don’t count on that happening again. As long as they can shake off the rust of having not played in 10 days by the time they open up against No. 8 Narragansett/No. 9 Smithfield on Sunday, Vets should have no problem eventually bringing home the trophy at McCoy Stadium.

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