Warwick splits first two games of Junior Legion championship series

Matt Metcalf
Posted 9/7/14

Warwick PAL Post 101 began its best-of-three junior legion state championship series with Riverside Post 10 by splitting the first two games. Game one began on Sunday and, after being suspended due …

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Warwick splits first two games of Junior Legion championship series

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Warwick PAL Post 101 began its best-of-three junior legion state championship series with Riverside Post 10 by splitting the first two games. Game one began on Sunday and, after being suspended due to darkness with the score tied 3-3 after seven innings, play resumed on Monday at Mickey Stevens. Warwick won 6-3. In game two, which began immediately afterwards, Riverside rallied from a two-run deficit in its last at-bat and won 5-3.

In game one, Warwick broke the 3-3 tie in the ninth. Catcher Marcus Alexander started the inning with a single. Jordan Huntoon and Kevin Russo then reached safely on consecutive bunts to load the bases with no one out. That set the stage for shortstop Steve Foster, who cleared the bases with a triple over the center fielder’s head. One of Warwick’s base runners was called out after missing second base, but it still gave Warwick a 5-3 lead.

“Foster’s our three hitter for a reason,” Warwick manager Mike Martin said. “He can hit with the best of them and he has tremendous speed. That combination will score you three in a hurry.”

Warwick added some more insurance when Dave McMullen plated Foster on a successful suicide squeeze attempt, increasing the lead to 6-3.

The three-run lead was more than enough for Huntoon, who quickly retired Riverside in the bottom half of the inning to secure the game-one win.

Huntoon started game two as well, which began shortly after the conclusion of game one. The ace of Warwick’s staff continued right where he left off, taking a 0-0 game into the fourth inning, locking himself in a pitcher’s duel with Riverside ace Kyle Marquis.

“He has been the stud, he’s been the closer all year,” Martin said of Huntoon. “He’s the guy on the mound. He’s calm, composed, nothing gets to him.”

However, Riverside was finally able to get to Huntoon in the top of the fourth, loading the bases before Robert Pereira drew a walk to score Marquis, giving Riverside a 1-0 lead. Still with the bases loaded and nobody out, Martin went to the bullpen to bring in Sean Creamer, who stranded all three Riverside base runners to keep the game at 1-0.

“Creamer didn’t even know he was going to be pitching tonight,” Martin said. “I asked if he could go for me in the second game and he came in and shut the door. He’s normally our starting catcher and our four hitter and we put him in that position because we knew he could get outs. He pitched very well tonight.”

It didn’t take long for Warwick to get the run back. A double from Creamer and a single by McMullen gave Warwick runners on the corners with no outs. Creamer eventually came in to score, when Riverside’s catcher airmailed a ball into the outfield on a McMullen steal, tying the game 1-1.

As Creamer continued to cruise along, Warwick’s offense continued to get to Marquis, scraping across a run in each of the next two innings.

A fifth-inning double by Huntoon scored Alexander, before Foster came in to score on a single by first baseman Robert Garceau in the sixth inning, giving Warwick a 3-1 lead.

“That was big for us because we knew that Riverside had a very good pitcher going,” Martin said. “He actually threw a no-hitter against us the first time that we played them. When we got one, two, then three, we thought that we were in pretty good shape, but that’s a good team over there. They didn’t go 18-2 for no reason.”

Facing a two-run deficit in the top of the seventh, Riverside put together an improbable comeback. With one out, Marc Lavalley drew a walk and stole second. Riverside’s Mike Allienello then doubled to right-center field, scoring Lavalley and making it 3-2. After a Marquis single put runners on the corners, Creamer induced a groundout. But with two outs, Riverside’s Jared Estrella came through with a clutch single up the middle, tying the game 3-3. To make matters worse for Warwick, Jordan Gibson followed Estrella’s heroics with some of his own, doubling to deep center field and clearing the bases to give Riverside a 5-3 lead.

Kam Gianlorenzo came on in the seventh and ended any comeback hopes, retiring Warwick in order to pick up the save.

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