ITI’s Jake Perpetna left, beats the tag by Cortina Tile third baseman Ari Schwartz during the fifth inning. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Third-seeded ITI may have finished with a record of 7-12 in the 13-14 Greater Westfield Babe Ruth Baseball regular season, but it sure is rolling now.
ITI upended second-seeded Cortina Tile 18-5 last night in an Amanti Cup tournament game at Bullens Field. ITI, who has now scored 48 runs in its last three games, moves on to face top-seeded Camfour Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
Camfour, a 5-3 winner over Berkshire Industries in Monday’s nightcap, owns a 3-2 season-series edge on ITI, having won the last-three error-filled contests.
In the first game Monday, ITI pounced on Cortina Tile early, scoring 11 runs in the top of the second inning to take a 12-4 advantage. Eric Hosmer (2-for-4) provided one of the inning’s highlights with a bases-clearing triple.
Nate Tsatsos went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs for ITI, and Colin Blake, Jared Iglesias, and John Strzempek finished with two hits apiece.
ITI pitchers Austin St. Pierre and Iglesias combined for the victory on the mound, striking out two hitters each.
Cortina Tile’s Shaun Gezotis drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fourth before an inning-ending ground out ended the threat.
Despite the team loss, Cortina Tile pitcher Tommy Smith provided some solid middle relief.
Camfour 5, Berkshire Industries 3
Camfour clean-up batter Anthony Riga blasted a first-inning, 2-run double and scored on a double steal, and Matt Hastings and Thomas Flaherty later added run-scoring singles to lead the offense. Pitchers Matt Hastings and Sean Moorhouse combined for the victory on the mound.
Berkshire Industries’ No. 4 batter, Noah LaPlante went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Mike Visconti added an RBI single. Josh Adams hit a booming sixth-inning double, advancing to second base on a ground out and scoring on Visconti’s base hit.
LATE RESULTS
Sunday, June 17
Berkshire Industries 5, Kiwanis 2
Berkshire Industries scored five runs in the top of the fourth with timely hits from Josh Adams, Tanner Hart, Mike Visconti, Drew Collins, Scott Walsh, and Colin Burns. Noah Laplante and Scott Walsh combined for some great BI pitching, and Kiwanis’ Sean Murphy, Tyler Stairs, and Sam Brochetti pitched well in defeat.
J.D. Huntley and Jake Colapietro scored for Kiwanis in the bottom of the fourth.
Walsh closed the game, allowing no runs over the final three innings and getting out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation.
TUESDAY NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER: The 15/16 Division returns to action tonight in the City Cup Playoffs at Bullens Field. Police (0-1) and Advance Manufacturing (0-1) will square off in a must-win game of the double-elimination tournament, beginning at 6 p.m. McDonald’s (1-0) and Sons of Erin (1-0) will meet in a matchup of postseason unbeatens at 8:30.
