West Baseball Beats Half Hollow Hills East

West Baseball took down Half Hollow Hills East 11-1 Monday morning in the first game of a three-game set against its League III foes.

A three-run homer from James English in the second inning gave the Bulls the lead they would never relinquish. The win moved the Bulls to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in league play.

“We hit throughout the lineup and it just shows today,” West coach Al Nucci said. “The top of the lineup for the first two innings didn’t do anything and then the number eight hitter (English) is up. Most teams’ number eight hitter can’t hit the ball 400 feet. Ours did.”

The strong pitching of senior Anthony Gatto sealed the win for the Bulls, who pitched five innings in his first start of the season.

The game started rough for the Bulls as the first two Thunderbird hitters got on base by bunting for hits, something that Nucci had warned his players about.

“A lot of teams are going to try to small ball us and force us to make plays because if you go up there and try to aggressively attack Anthony he’s going to win most of the time,” Nucci said. “He’s established himself where teams aren’t going to try to beat us 8-5 when he’s pitching, they’re going to try for 2-1, 1-0 games.”

Gatto escaped the first inning unscathed but gave up a solo homer to Mike Ceperano to lead off the second. He got the next two hitters out before giving up back-to-back singles but was able to escape without any further damage. Gatto gave up just the one run and six hits while striking out three over five innings.

“It felt good to get the first start out of the way,” Gatto said. “I didn’t have my best stuff today but came out and only gave up one run which was good.”

The Bulls extended their lead in the bottom of the third when Tyler Reinig came through with a two-RBI single that just snuck under the third baseman’s glove.

West put the game away for good in the fourth. The Bulls went up 8-1 after Gatto drove in a run with a two out infield single and promptly stole second base, which allowed him to score along with Ricky Alessi after the third baseman booted a ball hit by Nick Dellasperanza.

Gatto enjoyed the run support behind him.

“It’s so much easier, you just go out and throw strikes and let the defense make the plays behind you,” he said. “When you score 11 runs you pretty much have nothing to worry about.”

Nick Zito came in to secure the final six outs, giving up only a hit and striking out one.

Nucci was pleased with the way the game turned out although he had hoped his team would have made a few more plays defensively to help keep Gatto’s pitch count down – but that was minor in the big picture.

“To be 6-0 right now and to have Anthony only have started one game, it’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

West looks for its second win in the series Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at Half Hollow Hills East.