SIBL Stars Win Three Games to Advance in Dartmouth

The 10A all-stars of the Swansea Independent Baseball League won three successive outings this past weekend to advance to the winners’ bracket final of the John B. Steele Memorial Tournament hosted by the Dartmouth Youth Activities Association.

          Exhibiting its patented power attack coupled with solid pitching, the SIBL entry defeated Tiverton (10-0), Maplewood of Fall River (6-4) and the Taunton Independents (11-1) to gain a berth in the winners’ bracket final. Swansea will meet Greater New Bedford on Saturday, Aug. 10, at 2:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship round Sunday.

          The SIBL stars opened tourney play by blanking Tiverton behind the combined seven-strikeout pitching efforts of Campos and Devin Machado along with two home runs and three runs batted in by Campos. Nolan Potter also homered for the winners, while Brandon Medeiros, Brandyn Durand, Josh Ferreira and Connor Carey all collected two hits.

          Swansea rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning to subdue Maplewood, thanks to Devyn Vezina’s three-run homer in the third chapter. Potter stroked two hits for the victors and tossed four scoreless stanzas in relief of starter Medeiros.

          Against Taunton, the SIBL squad broke open a tight contest with a six-run uprising in the third inning fueled by Vezina’s monstrous three-run homer, one of four hits he registered. Campos also notched four hits, while Medeiros contributed a two-run homer and another hit and Potter, Carey and Alec Janicki all finished with two hits.

          Ferreira pitched the first three frames for the SIBL stars and notched six strikeouts, while Evan Thro came out of the bullpen to throw two scoreless stanzas and whiffed three batters. Potter tossed the final chapter and fanned one batter.

          Swansea now boasts an 18-2 overall record this summer and has captured three tournament championships.