NRLL Round-Up

Let's start with the good stuff: breakfast. NRLL’s annual Pancake Breakfast fundraiser takes place this Sunday, May 19, at the Great American Tavern, from 8 a.m. – 12 noon. We moved the event to the GAT last year and the response was overwhelmingly positive — for the quality of the food, the availability of tables, and the promptness of service. The cost is $6 per person with a $20 family cap, and there will be lots of great raffle prizes as well. Hope you can join us. It's an important fundraiser for the league.

Also, NRLL is planning an end-of-season “appreciation game” open to all of the league’s 12-year-olds. The date, time, and other specifics will be announced in the coming week on the league’s website, nrll.org. This is the league's way of thanking the players who've come up through the program and hopefully will continue their baseball-playing careers on the big diamond. It's not an All-Star Game...it's a fun game for the kids and hopefully we'll get a huge turnout. A cookout will follow the game.

Here are recaps of some recently played NRLL contests:

MAJORS

Angels 13, A's 8: A Monday night affair saw the Angels race past the A’s as Thomas MacEacheron launched a first-inning home run, later doubled, and threw 4.2 shutout innings. Jay Schille added three hits, Joey DiSanto singled twice, and Chewy Capozzoli blew things open with a bases-clearing triple in the fifth. The A’s made things interesting in the final inning, getting a grand slam HR from Jason DiNapoli, but Chris McCann came on and closed things out by striking out the final two batters.

Giants 6, Rangers 4: Ryan Connor pitched five masterful innings, then the Giants held on after a furious Rangers comeback in a battle between the top two teams in the standings. Connor didn't allow a hit to the 17 batters he faced—striking out 15, walking one, and retiring one on a ground out back to the mound. He left with the Giants holding a 6-0 lead. The Giants got that advantage by scoring runs in third, fourth, and fifth innings. Connor helped his own cause in the third with an infield single that plated Ryan Babcock, who had opened the frame with a walk. In the fourth, the Giants had a two-out rally. Andrew DeBenedetto walked, stole second, and scored on Ryan Veneziano's single to left. After Dylan Babcock singled, Mario Perrone lofted a single to right that brought home two more runs. Connor added a two-RBI single in the fifth that made the score 6-0. The Rangers wouldn't go quietly, however. In the sixth inning, they scored four times and had a runner at third and the tying run at second base when Giants catcher Nick Pasquale retrieved a wild pitch and threw the ball to pitcher Zach Sampson, who tagged out a runner attempting to score, ending the game. Dan Sweeney and Dylan Babcock each had two singles in the win. Matt Luciano, Sampson, DeBenedetto, and Ryan Landers also had base hits. Mark Desomond started and went for the 3.2 innings for the Rangers. He kept the Giants off the board until the third and finished with eight strikeouts before being relieved by Kyle Sovak. Jimmy Currier had a hit and scored a run for the Rangers. Paul Sablone, Dante Centrella, and Julia House also scored runs.

Royals 15, Blue Jays 9: Alex D'ambrosio went yard as part of a 2-for-4 day for the winners as these two teams turned what was expected to be a low-scoring event into a Field 3 slugfest. Peter Demetri, Greg Demetri. and Chris Tucker each added two hits in for the Royals, who rallied back from a five-run deficit. Peter Demetri started on the hill and took his team into the fifth inning before Abby Martin closed things out, ending the game with a 1-2-3 inning against the top of the Blue Jays' order. Alex Suny went 3-of-4 for the Blue Jays—one of those hits a towering home run in the second inning—and pitched three innings, striking out seven.

MINORS

Sea Dogs 3, Mudcats 1: An efficient game was turned in by both teams as the Seadogs outlasted the Mudcats. Pitching was the theme of the night as Ryan Caviasca and Anthony Diozzi struck out 13 batters while giving up four hits and just one run for the winners. Not to be outdone, Mudcats pitchers Timmy McCarthy and Devin Ouk struck out 12 Seadogs and only yielded three hits. Leading the offense for the Seadogs was Joey Framantino from the leadoff spot with two hits and getting on base three times overall. Nick Shea drove in two of the Seadogs' three runs. In the first inning,  Brady Cunningham made a nice defensive play at third base by throwing out the first Mudcat batter of the game, though hits by Michael Accola and Ryan Maguire put the team on the board. Defensively, Griffin and Sarah Potter were solid in the field for the Mudcats.

Scrappers 11, Mets 10: The Scrappers outlasted the Mets in an exciting back-and-forth battle. For the winners, Andrew Peppe hit a home run, scored two times, and made a spectacular catch in center field. Nick Chiardiello was 3-for-3 at the plate with 2 RBIs, while Colin Brown contributed with two runs. For the Mets, Frankie Cassarino pitched three innings while recording seven K’s. Michael Luker then pitched well in relief, striking out six, while Andrew Sablone had another big game at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two walks, a double, and four RBI. Kyle Moore chipped in with two hits of his own.