Top seed Senerchia ousted at states

Team makes last four but Collette ends run

Posted 7/31/14

Through 21 games in the regular season, the Senerchia Post 74 American Legion team came out on the wrong side of the final score just once.

Four games into the postseason, Senerchia doubled that …

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Top seed Senerchia ousted at states

Team makes last four but Collette ends run

Posted

Through 21 games in the regular season, the Senerchia Post 74 American Legion team came out on the wrong side of the final score just once.

Four games into the postseason, Senerchia doubled that number, and its hopes of a championship were dashed in a 3-1 loss to Collette Vacations/Post 79 on Tuesday.

Top-seeded Senerchia couldn’t come up with a clutch hit all game long, leaving 10 runners on base and failing to score in two separate innings with the bases loaded and only one out.

The defeat eliminated Senerchia from the state tournament. Collette advanced to take on R&R Construction on Wednesday for the department championship, with results unavailable at press time.

“We got the guys to the plate that we wanted with runners in scoring position and we didn’t come through,” said Senerchia manager Chris Sheehan. “That’s how baseball works.”

Senerchia finished the game with nine hits, but not a single one of them went for extra bases, as Collette starter Zach Mitsmenn limited the damage in a complete-game effort.

Mitsmenn struck out 12 and walked just two, throwing 146 pitches to earn the win. Adding to his impressive stat line was the fact that Mitsmenn started a game on Monday in which he didn’t fare very well and was forced to leave after just one inning.

On Tuesday, though, he was more than up to the task.

“He was getting ahead with his breaking ball and he was throwing it any count,” Sheehan said. “He would throw it for a strike and get ahead and then he’d throw it in the dirt and our guys were swinging over it. We just couldn’t lay off.”

Senerchia starter Kyle Barbato – seldom used during the spring season at Bishop Hendricken as a junior – was outstanding as well, scattering nine hits across a complete game, with one strikeout and three walks. He allowed just two earned runs.

His efficiency was exactly what Senerchia needed if it were to move on in the tournament, as it would have had to play a doubleheader Wednesday to claim the championship had it won on Tuesday.

As it was, Barbato’s effort kept Senerchia in the game until the final out.

“I can’t say enough about Barbato,” Sheehan said. “That kid, he just goes out there and competes. It’s not always about how much talent you have or how hard you throw, it’s how hard you compete and how tough you are. That’s exactly what he is. He’s done a great job all summer.”

After Barbato worked around an error and got out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the top of the third, Senerchia took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the inning on an RBI single by Kevin Sutyla, scoring Jarrad Grossguth, who walked to open the frame.

Senerchia held on to its slim lead until the top of the sixth. Collette’s Nathan Bannon led off with a single, and after retiring one man, Barbato issued a walk to Matt Ferdenzi and gave up an infield single to John Guarino.

That loaded the bases and Jonathan Estrella tied the score at one with a sacrifice fly. The next man up was Dan O’Brien, and he hit a groundball that John Willette couldn’t handle at shortstop. Ferdenzi reached third and then went halfway down the line when Willette picked the ball up and threw to third base. With the throw behind the runner, Ferdenzi was able to race home and score the go-ahead run.

“We didn’t get the runs for him, but he did everything he could,” Sheehan said of Barbato. “Even the runs they scored – an error, a sac fly – I’ll take that any day.”

Barbato retired the next man, and Senerchia looked poised to answer right back in the bottom of the sixth, as two infield singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. But Mitsmenn bore down, striking out David DeFusco and getting a groundout from Andrew Ciacciarelli to escape the jam.

After Collette made it 3-1 in the seventh, courtesy of a two-out RBI double by Ryan Fournier, Senerchia threatened again in the seventh. Mike Webb singled with one out, Rob Henry was hit with a pitch and Sutyla singled, loading the bases with one out for the No. 3 hitter in Senerchia’s lineup, Willette. But Willette struck out and No. 4 hitter Nick Boland fouled out, as Senerchia came up empty once more.

“Tip your cap to their pitcher,” Sheehan said. “He competed out there. He just kept us off-balance all day. We just couldn’t string anything together off him.”

Senerchia never seriously threatened again, as it had a leadoff single in the eighth from Brady Chant before Mitsmenn struck out the next three men in succession. In the ninth, the side went down in order to end the game.

Finishing as one of the last four teams standing was still an accomplishment for Senerchia, as it shockingly lost its opener of the state tournament Saturday 2-0 to Gershkoff Auto Body/Auburn Post 20 after not having been shutout all season long.

It then battled back to defeat Navigant Credit Union/Post 85 16-3 Sunday, setting up another elimination game Monday.

There, it won a marathon slugfest with South Kingstown 13-10. Trailing 5-0 after two-and-a-half innings, Senerchia got itself back into the game with a four-run fourth. Still, South Kingstown remained in front until the sixth inning, when Senerchia scored one run on an error and two more on a home run by Boland.

The back-and-forth trend continued when South Kingstown went up 9-8 with two runs in the top of the seventh, but another Senerchia blast put the team in front for good. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Henry smashed a grand slam over the fence in right-center to put Senerchia ahead 12-9.

South Kingstown scored a run in the eighth but Senerchia answered with one of its own, and reliever Joe Maynard worked a scoreless ninth to seal the victory.

Senerchia finished with 12 hits and hit double-digit runs for the second day in a row. Matt Kennedy battled through 4.1 innings of relief after South Kingstown had chased starter DeFusco. Henry and Ciacciarelli each had three hits to lead the offense.

But the following day against Collette, Senerchia’s season came to a close. In two losses during the postseason, Senerchia scored a combined one run. During the regular season, it was never shutout and it scored one run only twice.

Yet, there were some extenuating circumstances during the playoffs. Second-team All-State outfielder Dante Baldelli missed the postseason with a broken wrist, while starting second baseman Matt Murphy and starting third baseman Ed Markowski were absent due to other commitments.

Regardless, Sheehan wasn’t overly disappointed with his team’s performance. It was another successful summer, even it once again ended short of the ultimate goal.

“We had a good run with what we had,” Sheehan said. “I’ve got nothing to be disappointed about.”

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