The fans at Volunteer Field in the DeLutis baseball complex were treated to another gem on Saturday afternoon as cross-town rivals Utica Post (21-10) and New Hartford Post squared off in a heated affair. It was win or go home as the District 5 American Legion Tourney got serious.When two offensively explosive teams such as these square off, there is bound to be fireworks and both teams brought their bats on this humid day.
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The boys from Utica, spurred on by a huge second inning held off a persistent New Hartford Post and rode with pitcher Tom DeBernardis to a 12-7 victory sending John Randall's New Hartford squad home disappointed, stymieing their post-season aspirations.
Erik Verbickas started on the mound for New Hartford (16-10) but Utica's batters had the big pitcher's number and they hit him early and often, jumping out to quick two run lead (2-0) off of back to RBI's from Mike Scotellaro and Ryan Donovan.
It appeared that New Hartford's infield was not mentally prepared as they committed some careless fielding errors early in the game but were lucky to escape the inning down by only two when Verbickas struck out Gary McConnell, leaving two Utica Post runners stranded.
(Mike Scotellaro has a huge day at the dish for Utica Post-Tim Whalen looks on behind the plate.)
New Hartford's triple-Joe combination would respond quickly as Joe Betar pounded one up the middle to drive in Joe Desens.
Later in the inning, Houston Astros' draft pick, Joe Carcone smoked a two run shot over the right field wall to give New Hartford its only lead of the game. However, the lead would not hold up for long.
If the first inning was eventful, the second inning was explosive as Utica Post posted seven runs off of RBI's from five different Utica batters, sprinting out to a 9-3 lead.
That is all the cushion that Utica chucker Tom DeBernardis would need, throwing a complete game and effectively containing the potent New Hartford offense.
After the second inning shelling, Verbickas was replaced by Billy Cougan to help stop the bleeding.
The move was successful as Cougan held Utica to only one run through the next four innings.
Cougan's solid relief work gave New Hartford new life and they clawed their way back into the game.
(Bill Cougan comes on in relief for New Hartford and keeps his team close.)
Down six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Joe Desens came back to bat with two outs and the bases loaded. With his team's season riding on his bat, Desens stepped up by launching a deep shot over the head of centerfielder Mike Lackey.
The bomb scored all New Hartford's runners and narrowed the margin to a manageable three runs (9-6) heading into the heated seventh and final inning.
Today's games were shortened from nine innings to seven due to the back log of games that piled up because of all the rain that has been dumped on DeLutis.
Cougan gave up six hits and struck out three batters while keeping his team in the contest with a chance for some late inning magic..
A determined Utica squad came out looking to end the notion that a comeback was possible
If it wasn't clear up to this point, the events of the seventh inning proved that this was indeed a rivalry game.
( Nick Decresci two steps past second as New Hartford rallies.)
The tension and humidity were equally palpable as supporters from both teams chirped across the diamond at one another.
Things reached a boiling point when Mike Lackey was thrown out by Tim Whalen when he attempted to steal third. The close play was vehemently protested by Utica manager Greg Gaeta and several Utica Post 229 players.
With two outs and a runner on base Mike Scotellaro, who was clutch all game, came to bat looking to end the possibility of a New Hartford comeback with a two run dinger that put Utica back up by five (12-7).
Scotellaro's insurance shot turned out to be superfluous as DeBernardis struck out his fifth batter, forced two pop-outs highlighted by a nice over the shoulder catch by Mike Lackey. DeBernardis surrendered fifteen hits in his full seven innings.
With the win, Utica Post improved to 2-1 in the tournament earning themselves a chance to avenge the Thursday evening heartbreaker to Ilion Post. With their loss, New Hartford Post was eliminated from post-season contention.
Immediately following the Utica Post/New Hartford tussle Ilion and UP had to hydrate and hope to dodge another form of liquid as a massive band of Thunderstorms sped west to east toward Rome.
( Mike King turns on one for UP)
Not to be denied the much anticipated rematch between Utica Post and Ilion did get underway but only underway. Heavy rains forced the game to be suspended in the second inning with Utica Post up 6-0.
Both teams will be back at it at 11:00 AM on Sunday to see who will take a shot at red-hot Whitestown who knocked Ilion from the winners bracket with a convincing 9-2 win.
Should be a fun day at DeLutis, see you there.
Utica Post 229 12 New Hartford Post 1376 7
Boxscore:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Utica Post 2 7 0 1 0 0 2 12 12 2
New Hartford 3 1 0 0 0 3 0 7 8 2
Offensive Stars:
Utica Post:
Mike Scotellaro- 2 singles-1 homerun-4 RBI's-2 runs scored
Ryan Donovan- 2 singles-3 RBI's- 2 runs scored
Gary McConnell- 1 single, 1 triple-2 RBI's- 1 run scored
Justin Hall- 2 singles- 2 RBI's-1 run scored
Mike King-1 single- 1 RBI- 1 run scored
New Hartford Post
Nick Decresci-1 single-1 double-1 RBI- 1 run scored
Joe Desens- 1 double-3 RBI-1 run scored
Joe Carcone-1 homerun-3 RBI's-1 run scored
Steve Tomaino-2 singles-2 runs scored
