Baseball: Moretti's Walk-Off Prevents Loss to Lions

Despite giving their coach a heart attack with a near-collapse in the late innings, the Cranston West Falcons baseball team emerged victorious over Lincoln on Tuesday. Clutch hitting by both teams provided for a dramatic ending.

The Lincoln Lions came into Tuesday afternoon's baseball game at Cranston West undefeated, at 7-0. The Falcons began the day with a 6-3 record, 5-2 in league play.

One big inning produced a large lead for West, but the Lions roared back, tying the game with a late inning rally. Ultimately a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh gave the Falcons a 8-7 victory.

Senior Michael Hayden was the starting pitcher for Cranston West. In the top of the second inning he got out of a jam after loading the bases with one out. He managed to get out of the inning unscathed.

In the bottom of the second, the Falcons took the lead on an RBI single up the middle by Alex Rodriques. Junior Koyejo-Isaac Idowu followed with an RBI double off the left field wall, and West's lead was 2-0.

Hayden got himself into trouble in the third inning as well but the damage was limited. Lincoln had runners on second and third with no outs, but only managed to score one run in the inning. Senior Ryan O'Dell grounded out to second base and picked up a fielder's choice RBI.

Cranston West opened up a big lead with four runs in the bottom half of the third. Alex Moretti drove in two runs with a double to left and Hayden picked up and RBI with a single to left. The Falcons lead had been extended to 6-1.

In the top of the 5th, two errors by Rodriques allowed the Lions to pick up another run, cutting their deficit to 6-2. West responded in the bottom half, as Hayden drilled a ball deep to left and it sailed out of the yard for a solo homer.

Lincoln began the 7th inning trailing 7-2, needing a big inning to avoid a loss. Nick Zammarelli and O'Dell began the inning with hits and the Lions had two runners in scoring position with no outs.

Tyler Santaniello produced a run with and RBI double and Joe Hamilton grounded out to first base, bringing in another run. West's lead had been cut to 7-4. Junior Kyle Jackson notched an RBI single to left, keeping the pressure on the Falcons.

West junior Richard Reo replaced Hayden on the mound with runners on first and third and two outs. Reo came in when the score was 7-5.

The Lions made an aggressive play on the basepaths, a double steal, and the runners were safe at second base and home respectively, and the Falcons lead was trimmed to one run.

Freshman Doug Harrison popped the ball up down the right field line and it dropped in for a hit, producing another run for the Lions, which tied the game at seven.

Lions coach, Edward Hunt, spoke about the late game rally.

"I was pleased with the way they came back and that’s a sign of experience and leadership," he said.

The half inning ended on a fortunate play for the Falcons. The ball was driven hard right up the middle, but Reo stuck his foot out and the ball deflected high into the air. The third baseman caught it for the final out. If Reo had not made any contact with the ball, it was headed to centerfield and the Lions would have gained an 8-7 lead.

Falcons senior Jeff Diehl reached base for the third time in the bottom of the 7th with a walk. Diehl stole second base—his second steal of the game—and West was in business.

Senior Alex Moretti produced the biggest hit of the game, a walk-off RBI double to left field, giving the Falcons an 8-7 victory.

"They are a good team and they hit the ball very well," Hunt said, noting his team needed to work on baserunning.

Rob Malo, Falcons head coach, felt the win today was important. "This game was huge in towards of playoff seeding," he said, "To win this game the way we did it gives us some confidence."