Nunez Shines Against Peekskill

Sleepy Hollow's 16-and-under squad has enjoyed a solid summer so far in the Westchester Putnam Baseball Association and one reason why is it has pitchers that can find the strike zone.

One of the Mustangs pitchers who does just that is Gio Nunez.

"Gio just throws strikes all the time, he really does," Sleepy Hollow coach Mike King said. "He is a strike machine. My only issue with Gio is to keep him from getting tired. Usually after five innings he gets a little tired because he doesn't have that whole body yet, he hasn't been pitching that long."

Nunez continued to show that he can throw strikes in Sleepy Hollow's contest Saturday evening against Peekskill at Peekskill Stadium. In a game that was ended after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule, Nunez struck out 10 in an 11-0 victory for Sleepy Hollow (8-2).

King said that he doesn't like the mercy rule but with his team in a stretch of playing three games in a row, he said in this case the rule is a good thing.

"Now at least I didn't have to use a second pitcher tonight so it gives me another pitcher for Sunday and Monday," King said. "So it is a good thing to beat a team like that for that reason even though you don't like to do that to people though again, with three games in three days, it's good for our pitching staff."

Besides striking out 10, Nunez gave up just two hits and one walk.

"I just wanted to lead my team to victory so I gave it all I had," Nunez said. "My two-seamer and my fastball were working tonight. I just was releasing them perfectly."

Offensively, Chris Lopez got Sleep Hollow off on the right foot with a lead-off double in the top of the first before eventually scoring the Mustangs' first run.

Inmer Rosado scored Sleepy Hollow's second run in the top of the second. Lopez then continued his hot hitting later in the frame when his two-run single knocked in Joe Martello and Ronyell Munoz, putting the Mustangs up 4-0.

"I felt very good about our hitting tonight," King said. "The offense came together at the right time. We had good, timely hits."

Nunez gave Sleepy Hollow a 5-0 lead in the third inning when his double drove in Ronnie Rodriguez, who got on base with a single.

"I just wanted to put my bat on the ball and get the ball in play," Nunez said.

Sleepy Hollow added to its lead with four runs in the fourth, with two of those runs coming in on a sacrifice fly to center field by Lopez and a triple by Dionel Infante.

Nunez and Jack Gandolfo scored the last two runs for the Mustangs in the fifth inning in a venue that is considered one of the best in Westchester.

"This is a nice place to play, I like the field here," Nunez said. "The pitching mound was good. I liked playing under the lights too. It was a lot of fun."

King concurred with Nunez, on a place that includes a padded blue wall across the entire outfield, ample seating, a lighted scoreboard in straight away center field and a professional style press box which includes a public address system.

"This is a beautiful place," King said. "We were here two years ago when we played against Peekskill and enjoyed it then too. It's a beautiful stadium and the coaches on the other team are nice gentlemen as well."