Capitol City (DC) 12, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (NY) 3 (Extended Recap)
Ummm... Wow. I wasn't surprised that DC won the game. They have the ability to win this whole thing. They're just the underdogs as they do it. Well, not today. Cap City turned in the dominant performance of the tournament in a "winner is in" scenario for both teams.
Robert Reynolds dominated in all facets of the game and is playing out of this world right now. He ripped a single in the first inning and then home runs in the third and fourth innings including a towering blast into the trees in left field. It was seven straight hits over two games including three home runs. He leads the entire East Region in hits and RBIs by himself and is tied for the region lead in home runs with Brandon Lee of Newton, Massachusetts. They both have three.
"I'm not trying to hit home runs, I'm just getting pitches right in my zone," Reynolds said. "I put a good swing on a couple of them and they went over the fence."
Reynold also threw 3 1/3 innings of shut out ball. After a bloop single started the game, Reynolds struck out five batters and never allowed another hit. After a rough first inning, he pitched with more authority in the third inning after getting a 2-0 lead from his first dinger.
"I felt much better out there with the lead," Reynolds said. "I was relaxed and just threw more strikes."
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"We blew the first two games and we think we should've won them," Rosenthal said. "We've blown late leads in the other three games and we didn't want to do that today."
Capitol City removed Reynolds at 65 pitches with a 10-0 lead in the fourth inning after he induced a flyout. With Burnt Hills' season on the line in a potential mercy-rule loss, Jack Wyatt blasted a home run to right centerfield. It gave Burnt Hills some life and was the first home run of the tournament for BHBL. It was also the first home run in the last eight games for New York teams in the Mid-Atlantic tournament.
Duncan Hudson was able to rebound from the first-pitch homer to get the final two outs of the fourth with just three more pitches. After a scoreless fifth inning, Cap City poured on two insurance runs in the sixth with an infield single from Aiden Trinity, a walk to Hudson, and an RBI single from Rosenthal. After a walk to Rory Friel, Burnt Hills stayed away from the danger zone with Reynolds and walked him to give Cap City a 12-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dominic Rhodes hit an RBI double to put another run on the board for New York, but Rosenthal made one of 2-3 amazing plays behind second base. In fact, Cap City was flawless on defense, especially up the middle. Bosley-Smith made a pair of extraordinary plays at shortstop.
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Adin McGurk came on for the final out and got a fly ball to centerfield to send Capitol City to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2004. It will be the first game that Washington D.C. plays on television. Capitol City earned the three seed and will face Newark National (DE) at 11 a.m. on Friday on ESPN. It was finally settling in for Robert Reynolds after the game.
"I never thought I'd ever be playing baseball on television."
Lincoln (RI) 9, Rye (NH) 1
Lincoln took care of business in a game that didn't mean much on the final day of pool play and clinched the three seed in New England. They finished pool play with a 3-1 record. Rye went 0-4 for the second time in its league's history at Bristol. Lincoln had four extra-base hits including a 3-run homer from big Steve Andrews in the victory. Lincoln scored four runs in the first inning to put the game away early. Dave Bordieri, Aaron DeSousa, and Andrews each had a pair of hits. Blake Zaniol hit an RBI double. Dominic Cunha also roped a run-scoring double in the game.
Lincoln will be the three seed and face South Burlington, Vermont in the semifinals. There's a good chance we can see Ben Tate vs Kyle Marrapese on the mound in that game.
In the loss, Rye played its best defensive game of the tournament. Dylan King hit a double and scored a run. Dylan Chase had an RBI single. Tripp Hindle was 2-for-3 for Rye.
Westport (CT) 10, Newton SouthEast 4
Westport saved some pitching and brought its bats against a tough pitcher from Newton. Chad Knight hit a two-run home run in the first inning to answer Brandon Lee's two-run blast in the top of the inning. Massachusetts took a 3-2 lead with a single by Dante Taylor and a few passed balls. Connecticut, with Saco Maine's tournament lives in their hands, put up eight runs in the third inning to put the game away. Alex Rainer (3-for-3) started it with a single. Charlie Roof also smacked a single. Then, Ricky Offenberg roped a two-run triple to retake the lead. Matt Brown came off the bench to hit an absolute towering home run. After a pair of walks, Harry Azadian hammered a deep three-run home run to center field.
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| Courtesy of LISPN.Com |
Adam Freedman added an RBI single for Newton in the sixth inning, but it wasn't enough for Massachusetts to make the semifinals. Connecticut's win moved Maine into the four seed spot. The two squads will face off in the semifinal.
In the game, Connecticut used Max Popken, Roof, Reiner, and Knight. Roof and Reiner got some solid work in and looked great. For pitch count reasons, Westport decided to close with Chad Knight for the final out of the game and he slammed the door shut with an overpowering fastball for a game-ending strikeout.
Lionville (PA) 2, East Greenwich (NJ) 1
The final game of pool play had zero implications for the Mid-Atlantic and it was played that way. The game was very well-pitched and well-played by both teams, but the fire wasn't there. Lionville scored two runs on one hit in the first inning and four different pitchers made the first-inning lead stand up. Hunter Kelly went 85 pitches and 4 1/3 innings to keep New Jersey in the game. New Jersey outhit Pennsylvania in the game, but could never put the hits together. East Greenwich went 0-4, but lost three games by just one run.
Final East Region Rankings
1. Connecticut (4-0)
2. Vermont (3-1)
3. Rhode Island (3-1)
4. Pennsylvania (4-0)
5. Maryland (2-2)
6. Delaware (3-1)
7. Maine (1-3)
8. Washington, D.C. (2-2)
9. Massachusetts (1-3)
10. New York (1-3)
11. New Jersey (0-4)
12. New Hampshire (0-4)
Random Thoughts: New York and New Jersey haven't missed the Mid-Atlantic semifinals together ever in the history of the region which started in 2001. If you go back to the old East Region, the last time New York and New Jersey both missed the semifinals or quarterfinals was back in 1993 when Orchard Park (NY) and Nottingham (NJ) both fell on the same day in the losers bracket. They finished outside the Top 8 in the region.
The victory for Washington D.C. was incredible. It really was. This team is legitimate though. They beat two Maryland district champions including a team that had Berlin (MD) on the ropes and the team that made the state championship game. Oh by the way, they beat the state champion as well. They led in all four pool play games and should probably be 3-1.
If Connecticut hits throughout its lineup like it did today... They're going to not only win the region, they're going to do very well in Williamsport.
Home Run Meter: 26 (Last Year: 27)
Strikeout Meter: 315 (Last Year: 280)
Prediction Record: 3-1 (Overall: 19-5) *Improved my record from last year by three games
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