Warwick PAL swept by Johnston in semis

Matt Metcalf
Posted 8/18/15

Warwick PAL’s quest to repeat as the Connie Mack champion fell short in the semifinals on Wednesday night, as Johnston polished off a sweep with a 2-0 win at Mickey Stevens.

Warwick southpaw …

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Warwick PAL swept by Johnston in semis

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Warwick PAL’s quest to repeat as the Connie Mack champion fell short in the semifinals on Wednesday night, as Johnston polished off a sweep with a 2-0 win at Mickey Stevens.

Warwick southpaw Mike Broccoli turned in another impressive outing on the mound, allowing just one earned run in a complete-game effort.

But, unfortunately for Warwick, Johnston’s Jake Podmaska was just a little bit better, going the distance while yielding just two hits and no runs against a typically potent Warwick lineup.

Warwick mustered just five baserunners all game against Podmaska, who fanned seven in Johnston’s series clincher.

“I was feeling maybe the best I’ve felt this year,” Podmaska said. “I just thought of it as another game, just went out there and did my thing.”

For Warwick, it had to just tip its cap to Podmaska.

“[Podmaska] did a good job pitching, you have to give him his props,” Warwick manager Pete Palermo said. “That’s a good team over there. We just got beat by a good team.”

Both offenses went quietly in each of the first three innings, with the first run not being scored until the top of the fourth.

In that half inning, Rommy Morel and Nick Raposo led off with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, Erry Baldyac grounded a ball to short that was misplayed by Justin Kennedy, allowing Morel to score to give Johnston a 1-0 lead.

An inning later, Johnston’s offense was back at it.

This time it was Morel driving in the run, lacing a double in the gap that brought Patrick Fleming in from third to stretch the lead to 2-0.

Two runs may not seem insurmountable, but it turned out that it would be for a struggling Warwick offense.

Chris Duchesneau led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, but Podmaska would strand him there, retiring the next three batters and stalling any momentum that Warwick was hoping to establish.

Johnston had Baldyac in the bullpen ready to go for the seventh, but his services weren’t needed.

Podmaska returned to the mound in search of putting the finishing touches on a complete game – and he would.

The right-hander retired the side in order in the seventh to secure a berth in the finals for his squad.

Johnston would go on to sweep top-seeded Coventry for the state championship over the weekend.

Warwick had nothing to hang its head over, though. Despite its goal being to win another championship, it turned in another outstanding season, followed by a deep playoff run.

“I told them to keep their heads up, nothing to be ashamed of,” Palermo said. “We made it to the semifinals again and lost to a good team after winning it last year. This is a great run that we’ve had with these group of kids.”

Palermo noted that it’s been a pleasure to coach the kids who won’t be able to return to play next summer.

“Some of these kids are aged out now, so it’s been a lot of fun to work with them,” Palermo said. “They were great to be around and they have a lot of talent. I’ll miss them all.”

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