Schools
Baseball: Hayden Pitches a Gem, Leading Falcons to the Finals
Cranston West completed a sweep of the semifinal series against East Greenwich with a 6-0 victory in game two.
East Greenwich and Cranston West met in game two of their semifinal series on Thursday afternoon, after completing the final two innings of the first game, which West won 10-5. In game two, Falcons senior Michael Hayden pitched a complete game shutout and West won it 6-0. They advance to the state finals where they will face top seeded North Kingstown.
Rob Malo, Falcons head coach, spoke about Hayden's performance. "He has been like that all season long and mixed up his pitches well," he said.
West senior Stephen Lapatin homered to right center in the top of the 1st, giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
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In the second and third innings, the Avengers left four runners on base, two of them in scoring position.
West's defense was superb, as they killed the offensive threat with two double plays, each of them ending the inning.
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East Greenwich's starting pitcher David Hopkins kept the deficit at 1-0 through five innings of play.
In the top of the 6th, the Falcons capitalized on three errors by the Avengers. West scored four runs, three of them being unearned.
EG captain and second baseman Jonathan Lamendola bobbled a ground ball and West plated their third run of the game. Falcons junior Koyejo Idowi picked up an RBi with an infield single and their lead was extended to 5-0 on a past ball.
In the 7th inning, Hayden homered to right field, putting the icing on the cake. He retired the side in order in the bottom half of the inning and West won the game 6-0. Hayden recorded six strikeouts on the afternoon.
The Falcons advance to the state finals at McCoy Stadium and will play North Kingstown on Monday night in game one of the best of three series.
Malo spoke about the character and chemistry of his team.
"This is a big win for the kids, four seniors went down over the last four weeks," he said, "It speaks volumes about the character of our ball club."
Robert Downey, Avengers head coach, reflected on the season and the future.
"We had a great year and these kids showed resiliency all year," he said, "The program is headed in the right direction."
"Hayden kept his team in the game and battled," the coach added.
