Baseball: Shrub Oak Sweeps Doubleheader

The Shrub Oak Cardinals (4-7) triumphed 9-1 against the Carmel Angels in the 21-and-over age division during the Westchester Putnam Men's Senior Baseball League contest.

Shrub Oak pitcher Mike Tierney pitched his best game of the season for the Cardinals, allowing just one run in a complete-game effort. The win gave Shrub Oak a sweep of the doubleheader at Lakeland High School that started Sunday morning and went into the early afternoon of July 11.

The Cardinals were up 4-0 against the Angels going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Angels got a walk and a stolen base from their leadoff hitter before he scored on a single to cut the Cardinals' lead to three.

Tierney knew that he had to step up after that single and he did just that. He got the next three Angels to fly out to center, strike out and ground out to second.

That type of clutch pitching helped the Cardinals secure a victory.

"It was definitely a momentum changer, getting those outs," Tierney said. "The thing that frustrated me was that I was trying to get ahead most of the time and what you saw was one of two walks I gave up ended up scoring. I was disappointed that I put somebody on but I was glad that I wiggled out of it."

Shrub Oak won the first game 10-5, with Joe Montesano going all the way to earn the win for the Cardinals.

"I can tell you without even thinking about it the key was getting ahead of the hitters, getting strike one," Tierney said. "That was an important pitch. I was ahead most of the day. I didn't put myself into trouble. What I did was really rely on the other eight guys, let them put the ball in play. I told myself that I didn't have to overpower anybody, just let the defense do its job and throw strikes."

Shrub Oak's offense helped Tierney as it tallied two runs in the first inning and two runs in the second frame. Chris Manse started the game with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and came home on a single by Dan Magro.

"It was very important to get on base," Manse said. "I try to get on every time I get up. I was just looking to get single, steal a base and try to manufacture a run."

Magro scored the Cardinals' second run when he advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Greg Gonzalez.

Shrub Oak increased its lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the second inning. Eric Rosen started the rally with a lead-off single, stole second and advanced to third on Paul Gumina's single.

Tierney then helped himself when he grounded out to shortstop, which brought in Rosen. Then after Montesano flew out to left field, Manse singled in Gumina.

Shrub Oak sealed the nightcap of the double-dip with one run in the fifth and four runs in the seventh.

Manse was hot in both games, as he accumulated four hits on the day, two in each game.

"I was seeing the ball well, hitting the ball early in the count, driving the ball up the middle," Manse said. "I wasn't trying to do too much with the pitch, instead I was just trying to go with it early."