2014 East Region Tournament: Day 5 Recap

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Toms River (NJ) 10, West Salisbury (MD) 5

Coming off a no-hitter and sitting in a great playoff position win-or-lose during this game, Maryland came out hot. West Salisbury put up four in the first inning off Toms River's #2 pitcher, Phil Antoniotti. As he usually does, Antoniotti settled down and didn't allow another run. New Jersey crept back in the game and exploded for five runs in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. A Blake Corbin home run in the fifth got Maryland back within two, but Toms River added three more insurance runs. Christian Wood was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Chris Baker came off the bench to record three RBI including a two-run single in the fifth. Connor Cino had two hits, two runs, and an RBI for Jersey as well. Wood and Nick DeRose were solid in relief.

New Jersey is now in the driver's seat for the top seed (after Pennsylvania lost) and has Wood, DeRose, Jon Giordano (1-for-1, 2 walks, HBP today) available for the game with Delaware. Maryland, but virtue of New York's victory is eliminated. West Salisbury's defense hurt early in the tournament, but Maryland was definitely dealt a bad hand by missing the sixth place team, D.C. Ryan Mitchell and Dylan Smith did a great job leading the team this week.



Falmouth (ME) 9, Barnstable (MA) 4

Maine chose the best time to put up its best performance of the tournament. Falmouth is one of the most athletic teams in the region, but sometimes they don't put it all together. Today, they did. The defense was much sharper than usual and everyone came up with big hits. Brady Douglas (2-for-4) came through with a two-run single in the sixth to break a 3-3 tie with one out. Josh LeFevre added an RBI

Photo courtesy of Paul Alesse, LiSPN.com

single and then Michael Simonds blasted a three-run homer to left to put the game away. Francis Kiely was a spark plug in the leadoff spot with three hits including a double. Barnstable falls to 1-2 in the tournament and is basically in a playoff game with New Hampshire now.

Falmouth at 2-2 will wait for other games to shake out to find out its position. Barring anything crazy with Rhode Island losing a second time, Maine should be in. There's a small chance of a four-way tie for three spots right now.

Fairfield American (CT) 5, Cumberland American (RI) 3
The best game of the day was a probable championship preview. Connecticut started its ace PJ Egan. He went three innings giving up one run on four hits. Brian Howell allowed just two hits in his 1 1/3 innings of relief and no earned runs. Ian Bentley closed it out and actually grabbed the win with 1 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball. All of those numbers are incredibly impressive considering how imposing Rhode Island's offense has been.

Cumberland took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, but Bentley hit a two-out double and then Jack Steed (3-for-3) drove him in to tie the game. In the sixth, with two outs again, Jamie Flink lofted a two-run walk-off homer to left centerfield.

Colonie (NY) 5, Taney (PA) 3

It looked like yet another Taney victory early on. Joe Richardson was dominating the Colonie lineup with an overpower fastball and a nasty off speed pitch. Jack Rice, Richardson, and Carter Davis each hit an RBI double in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. It took just one inning to swing the momentum. Zane Nelsen settled in on the mound for New York and continued to let his "gravity ball" just tickle the paint on the outer corner. He had a 14-pitch third inning with no hits against the meat of the order and then Richardson walked a pair in the bottom of the inning. With frustration setting in, Richardson took something off his fastball and left it in the zone for Jakob Lemperle to hammer the other way for a game-tying three-run homer.

Taney never figured Nelsen out and it stayed that way until the fifth inning when Lemperle ripped an RBI triple and then scored on a passed ball to take a 5-3 lead into the sixth. Nelsen got through 5 2/3 innings including strikeouts of Taney's ultra dangerous four and five hitters in his final two batters. Lemperle came on for the final out and got it easily. The victory clinched a playoff spot for New York and shook up the seeding for everyone.

East Region Rankings after Day 4

1. New Jersey (3-0)

2. Pennsylvania (2-1)

3. Rhode Island (2-1)

4. Delaware (2-1)

5. Connecticut (3-1)

6. New York (2-2)

7. Maine (2-2)

8. New Hampshire (1-2)

9. Vermont (1-2)

10. Maryland (1-3)

11. Massachusetts (1-2)

12. Washington D.C. (0-3)

Random Thoughts: The four spots are set in the Mid-Atlantic. We just don't know the order. If New Jersey beats Delaware and Pennsylvania beats D.C., it'll be New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware. If Delaware wins or Pennsylvania loses... things get a little crazy. Pennsylvania didn't go for the jugular today and they could've. That may cost them a significantly easier semifinal opponent. On the New England side, Connecticut is the one seed. The winner of New Hampshire and Massachusetts is in essence a play-in game, assuming Rhode Island beats Vermont. If Williston can knock Rhode Island off that would create a four-way tie for second, third, fourth, and the odd team out at 2-2.

Home Run Meter: 20 (Last Year: 18, Previous Year: 21)

Strikeout Meter: 243 (Last Year: 267, Previous Year: 235)

Prediction Record: 1-3 (Overall: 14-6, clinched a worse record than last year (25-5) with that performance)

Wednesday's Predictions: Delaware over New Jersey 7-5, New Hampshire over Massachusetts 6-4, Rhode Island over Vermont 13-3, and Pennsylvania over D.C. 11-1. 


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