Baseball: Haley Pitches Falcons to 9-1 Complete Game

Mike Haley pitched a gem in a 9-1 win over the North Kingstown Skippers Monday night at Lischio Field.

The Falcons jumped all over the Skippers early on, with seniors Matt Pagano and Jeff Diehl scoring runs on a sacrifice fly to right from senior Mike Hayden and a double from senior Matt McCool, respectively.

“We were fortunate enough to score a few in the first, and that kind of set the tone,” Cranston West head coach Rob Malo said.

While Cranston West would score more runs before the end of the game, the two in the first would prove to be all starter Mike Haley would need.  Haley allowed one run on six hits in a complete game effort while striking out five and walking just one.

“He threw great today. He had command of his fastball, his breaking ball and even his changeup, so when you can throw three pitches for strikes consistently he’s going to be effective,” Malo said.

Free passes proved to be a big advantage for the Falcons on the day, as Cranston West drew five walks on the day while the Skippers just one.

“We’ve been on the opposite side of it too where we walked 13 one game and ended up losing on a wild pitch, so we’ve been on both sides of it,” Malo said.  “When your pitcher can throw strikes and be effective like that it gives you a chance to win ball games.”

While the Skippers certainly hit some balls hard on the day, they were unable to get any to really drop into play until the final few innings.

“I think we hit the ball pretty well today. It was just straight at people and we were swinging at bad pitches sometimes,” Haley said.

After the Falcons built a 7-1 lead through six innings, North Kingstown had its best opportunity to get back into the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Haley led off the inning with a single, senior Mike Sherburne reached base on an error on Cranston West junior shortstop Rob DeCosta and sophomore Chris Hess followed with a single to load the bases with no outs.

Unfortunately that is where each would remain, as junior Jared Habershaw struck out swinging and both junior Alex Marzilli and sophomore Austin Barry popped out to first base.

“You can’t be chasing six in the sixth,” Gormley said.  “It’s tough, at that point it was 7-1 so we’re trying to cut that in half.  If you get a hit there it makes it 7-3, so at least you give yourself a shot in the seventh inning.”

Cranston West tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh, and Haley was able to get out of a first and third situation with two outs in the bottom of the inning to get the win.

The Falcons (7-3 Division-I Central, 8-4 overall) draw to within one game of first place Hendricken with the win, and will get a chance to tie the Hawks when they face them Thursday at 4 p.m. at Bishop Hendricken High School.

“This week is going to define our season, define our team, and define each of them as a ballplayer,” Malo said. 

The Skippers (9-2 D-I South, 12-2 overall) will look to stay atop their division Thursday at 4 p.m. when they travel to take on Portsmouth High.

“It’s a tough stretch. We’ve had to play the upper echelon teams these last four games and then we’ve got to go play Portsmouth and South, so it’s not over yet,” Gormley said.  “We knew this part of the schedule was going to be pretty hard, so to come out 2-2 we’re pretty happy.”