Westfield Babe Ruth Baseball 14-Year-Old All-Stars’ Ari Schwartz runs the basepaths during a New England Regional tournament opening round game Friday night at Bullens Field. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The defending 2012 Babe Ruth Baseball New England regional champion Westfield 14-Year-Old All-Stars have their work cut out for them.
Warwick (R.I.) put up seven runs en route to a shocking 13-8 win over Westfield in an opening round eastern regional game Friday night at Bullens Field. This year’s 14’s are comprised of former 13-year-old World Series representatives from a year ago.
Warwick, fueled by ineffective pitching and shaky defense (errors from three different infielders) on Westfield’s part, burst ahead 7-0 in the top of the first inning. Rhode Island sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning en route to knocking the starting pitcher from the mound, receiving big hits from Jarrod Houle (RBI double), Nick Grenci (RBI single), and Billy Roberge (2-run single), as well as tacking on three unearned runs.
But Westfield did not go to the World Series without knowing a thing or two about baseball as 13-year-olds a year ago.
In the bottom of the first, Ari Schwartz, Westfield’s starting pitcher led off with a one-out single. Anthony Clark reached on an infield error, and Sean Murphy drove in the team’s first run with a line drive single to center field. Sean Moorhouse walked to load the bases. Andrew Wood drew a two-out walk, and Nick Clegg was hit by a pitch to bring the Whip City within four, 7-3.
Warwick was not done.
In the second, Warwick’s Jordan Huntoon smacked a one-out, two-run single to left center field, and Houle collected an RBI single to regain a seven-run advantage, 10-3. In the third, Steve Johnson plated David Defusco and Anthony Russo with a booming two-out triple to center field. Defusco reached on a double, and Russo had a base hit. The opposition led 12-3.
Warwick, who showed signs of opening night jitters in the first inning, fell prey to the error-bug in the bottom of the third. Westfield managed to push three runs across without a single hit as a hit batter, walk, run-scoring errors, and a fielder’s choice cut the lead to 12-6.
Westfield’s defense tightened up a bit over the fifth and sixth innings.
In the fifth, Westfield reliever Andrew Wood retired the side 1-2-3. In the sixth, second baseman Schwartz made a leaping catch to rob Huntoon of a base hit and threw to first base to complete the double play.
Westfield threatened to make a game of it in the sixth. A Schwartz double, followed by consecutive walks from Clark, Murphy, Moorhouse, and Zachary Jarvis made it 13-8. Warwick reliever Elijah Brown allowed a bases-loaded walk to the first batter he faced (Jarvis), but struck out the Nos. 7-9 batters to end the inning.
Brown not only dominated the sixth, but excelled in the seventh, retiring the top three batters – no easy feat – to end the game. He struck out the final two.
Westfield will play St. Johnsbury (Vermont) on Saturday and Waterford (Conn.) Sunday. First pitch for both games is at 4 p.m. To have a realistic shot at advancing to the single-elimination semifinals, the Whip City All-Stars will need to sweep the weekend series of pool play.
In other New England Regionals tournament action held between Bullens Field and Westfield State University Friday, Manchester (N.H.) defeated Pittsfield 9-3, Waterford (Conn.) shut out St. Johnsbury (Vermont), 10-0, and Central Maine edged Norwood (Mass.) 8-7.
