Mamaroneck Beats New Ro 17-7 in First Round of Baseball Playoffs

Third-seeded Mamaroneck began its quest for a third straight state championship in style, scoring the first nine runs in a 17-7 win over No. 14 New Rochelle in the first round of the Class AA sectional tournament Friday afternoon.

The Tigers will host No. 6 Mahopac Saturday at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

"I thought the hardest game we'll play all year was the first game," said Mamaroneck coach Mike Chiapparelli, whose team replaced eight starters from last year. "I think our chances have gone up tremendously, especially with all the upsets today."

Scarsdale, Greeley, John Jay-Cross River and John Jay-East Fishkill are among the highly-seeded teams that fell in the first round.

Mamaroneck (17-4) has averaged more than 10 runs a game this season.

Dean Chiapparelli hit a grand slam in the second inning to highlight the offensive onslaught.

The Tigers led 17-2 before the Huguenots scored five times in the final inning.

The Tigers opened the game with a double by Jacob London. Dean Chiapparelli walked, the runners advanced on a passed ball, and Sam Gruppo hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring.

Later in the inning, Mikey Ron hit a two-run single.

In the second inning, Max Holiber singled, Matt Mezanky walked and London bunted for a hit before Chiapparelli cleared the bases with his team-best fifth home run of the season.

The third inning saw back-to-back doubles by Holiber and Mezanksy, who later scored on an RBI single by Gruppo.

Gruppo, a senior captain, was playing in just his second game since being hit in the eye when a ball took a bad hop a few weeks ago. He is the only returning starter from last year's championship team.

Mamaroneck had beaten New Rochelle 11-4 at home on April 26, but had only won 4-2 last week at New Rochelle. Those four runs were the fewest the Tigers had scored all year against a Section 1 team.

Mamaroneck didn't play Mahopac in the regular season.