Offense breaks out for ’Canes in mercy-rule win over Classical

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 5/10/16

At Warwick Vets in the cold and rain, the Hurricanes blasted the Classical Purple 11-1 by way of the 10-run rule, finishing them off by the bottom of the fifth inning. Kyle Denis had a three-run RBI …

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Offense breaks out for ’Canes in mercy-rule win over Classical

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At Warwick Vets in the cold and rain, the Hurricanes blasted the Classical Purple 11-1 by way of the 10-run rule, finishing them off by the bottom of the fifth inning. Kyle Denis had a three-run RBI double in the bottom of the second inning to blow the game open for Warwick.

Warwick head coach Nolan Landy was ecstatic to see his team’s offense finally come out.

“We really haven’t hit the ball like that yet,” Landy said. “Today’s really the first day we broke out and it was good to see. It’s good to see us scoring some runs.”

Junior David Defusco took the ball for Vets and ended the day with four strikeouts and one walk with one hit batsman, giving up just one hit. Defusco had control problems early, but later settled in.

“He started out rough, but he ended better than he started,” Landy said.

Dave Torres pitched for Classical. Torres ended the day allowing seven runs through four innings. The senior finished with six walks and a hit batsman, giving up two hits with two strikeouts.

Classical’s leadoff hitter Pat Welch got on base after a throwing error at first by Warwick second baseman Ryan Costa, which went down into the dirt past Denis and put Welch at second base. Next, Zach Odsen hit an RBI single to score Welch and give Classical an early 1-0 lead. After a passed ball, Odsen took second. Defusco then beaned Roberto Reyes, putting runners on first and second with one out. Next, Defusco was able to fan Jordan Ledesma. Defusco followed it with a walk, but he was able to escape without any more damage when he got Torres to foul out.

In the bottom of the first, Torres struck out Defusco, who led off. Torres hit the next batter, Chris Reid. Then, Torres walked Costa. However, Torres got out of the jam when he got Jake Brodeur to hit into a double play to end the first inning.

After another error at first base in the top of the second, Classical’s Earlyn Hernandez stood at second. A passed ball moved Hernandez to third. Though, Defusco was able to defuse the damage when he struck out Tate Finigan, and then forced back-to-back grounders to the mound to escape the inning.

Denis worked a walk to lead off the bottom of the inning. Next, Dan Pratt hit a grounder to the shortstop. While Denis was thrown out at second, Pratt prevented the double play when he beat out the throw to first. However, on the first pitch to Brodeur, Pratt was caught trying to steal second.

Brodeur was able to advance to second after a throwing error by the third baseman. With Brodeur at second, Jake Paul stepped up to the plate. He hit a pop-up, but the second baseman, Ledesma, wasn’t able to catch it. On the error, the runner went to third. Cam Skuce then got on first via another throwing error, and that knocked in Brodeur from third to tie the game at 1. With runners at second and third, Defusco hit a bloop single to right field that the outfielder couldn’t make a play on. That scored both Paul and Skuce. Defusco also scored on the sequence after another throwing error at third allowed him to circle the bases, making it 4-1 Warwick.

Torres walked Reid next, who stole second shortly after. Next, Torres walked Costa to put runners on first and second. Then, Hernandez, the Classical catcher, misplayed a foul ball behind home plate with two outs. That would prove to be costly. Instead of Classical ending the inning, Nick Beaufort took advantage and worked a walk. Then, with the bases loaded, Denis cleared them with a double to put Warwick up 7-1.

In the top of the third, Defusco retired the side in order, ending with a strikeout of Ledesma.

With men on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the inning, Torres got Costa to ground out to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Classical’s Sam Bush got to second after an error at first. It wouldn’t matter, though. Defusco got the next hitter, Torres, to fly out to left. Then, he struck out Hernandez before forcing Finigan to line out to the third baseman, Beaufort.

Torres walked Beaufort to start the bottom of the fourth. However, Torres was able to get Denis to hit into a double play before fanning Pratt to end the inning.

Defusco had a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth, getting Welch to ground out to first and Juan Reynoso and Odsen to fly out.

In the bottom of the fifth, Elias Eberman came on as the relief pitcher for Classical, and he did not fare well.

Jake Mitchell and Paul hit back-to-back singles. Then, Eberman walked Skuce to load the bases. On a passed ball at home plate, Mitchell scored to increase the Warwick lead to 8-1. Next, Eberman walked Defusco to reload the bases. Reid then hit an RBI single to score Paul and extend the lead to 9-1. Eberman walked Costa next, while also walking in a run to make it 10-1. At this point, Warwick still had no outs. With the bases loaded, Eberman walked in Beaufort on five pitches and Defusco scored from third to give Warwick an 11-1 win via the 10-run rule. 

The ’Canes, now 6-3 in Division II, were set to play at Mt. Pleasant on Monday, but results were unavailable at press time.

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