The SOL American/Continental fell to Jersey Shore in Thursday’s opening round game of the 2018 Carpenter Cup. Photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. CLICK HERE to go to our photo galleries.
JERSEY SHORE 6, SOL AMERICAN/CONTINENTAL 2
Wissahickon coach Andy Noga looked around the assembled players from the SOL's American and Continental conference and told them to use Friday's game as motivation.
It was a relatively young group with mostly juniors and sophomores, plus one freshman, and Noga wanted them all to know they had earned the right to be a part of the Carpenter Cup.
"It was a great group of guys and for the most part, very young," Noga said. "We said at the end here we'd like to see a lot of these guys back next year to chase going to Citizens Bank Park and winning the championship.
"I was proud of the way we handled ourselves with class, I feel like we represented the SOL American and Continental very well today with not only our play on the field, hustling and all that good stuff, but picking each other up. The hustle - I was just very pleased to see that."
SOL A/C had a 2-1 lead going into the top of the ninth, but Jersey Shore rallied to post five runs in the frame to take the advantage.
Jersey Shore pitcher Tray Dombroksi started the game strong, getting seven of his nine outs via strikeout in his three innings of work. Carpenter Cup rules limit pitchers to just three innings, so the good news for the SOL A/C side was Dombroski was done to start the fourth.
The bad news was his teammates would prove just as adept at ringing up hitters. Jersey Shore pitchers combined to strike out 17 batters in the nine-inning game, quelling a handful of SOL A/C rallies with one or two key punch outs.
"It was a little strange, coming off the bench cold in the fifth inning," CB West outfielder Matt McCarthy said. "As soon as we got out there, it's just baseball. We wanted to put the ball in play. They mixed up their pitches well to keep us off balance, but toward the end we were able to get a couple."
Despite the high number of strikeouts, the SOL A/C did collect nine hits but left 11 runners on base. In the third inning, the team loaded the bases with one out only to watch Dombroksi strike out the next two guys.
Pitching-wise, the SOL A/C got eight very good innings before Jersey Shore's ninth inning rally. Quakertown's Justin Guidos threw two scoreless frames to start the game before being replaced by North Penn's Joe Valenti. Jersey Shore tagged Valenti for a third-inning run, but the lefty responded by retiring the last seven men he faced.
Mike Gorman, one of five Wissahickon players on the roster, pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh.
"I approach it the same way every time," said Gorman, normally a starting pitcher. "I try to get right on my curve ball and my off-speed so I don't have to worry about it and throw with confidence. It was a really good experience for me and I want to try and come out again next year."
SOL A/C had its own rally in the bottom of the eighth. CB South's Jake Trachtenberg led off with a single and scored when Norristown junior Dominic Pioretto belted a triple to right-center. Pioretto would score when a ground ball off McCarthy's bat resulted in an infield error.
North Penn's Joe Picozzi had two hits in his three at-bats, including a double. Wissahickon's Brian Menhart had a defensive gem, tracking down a deep fly ball in the fourth inning to rob a Jersey Shore batter of extra bases.
Luke Shank (Souderton), Matt Cooper (CB West), Brian Hynes (Wissahickon) and Jack Nugent (Central Bucks East) also recorded hits for SOL A/C. Tyler Young (Central Bucks East) walked in both of his plate appearances.
JERSEY SHORE (6) – David Glancy cf 2-0-1-0, Craig Larsen ph/ss 3-0-0-0, Vin Bianchi ss 1-0-0-0, Giovanni Ciaccio ph/cf 2-1-0-0, Carmine Petosa 1b 1-1-0-0, Jared Bellissimmo 1b 3-0-1-1, Max Winters c 1-0-1-1, Nick Hohenstein lf 2-0-0-0, Jorden Jukiewicz lf 2-0-0-0, David Melfi c 2-0-0-0, Phil Marcantonio dh 2-0-0-0, Anthony Galason dh 1-1-0-0, Ryan Ford 3b 2-0-1-0, Grant Shulman 3b 2-1-1-1, Braedin Hunt rf 2-0-0-0, Alex Ladisernia rf 1-1-1-0, Miles Feaster 2b 2-0-0-0, John Volpe 2b 2-1-1-2, Trey Dombronski p 0-0-0-0, Matt Pickus p 0-0-0-0, Noah Dean p 0-0-0-0, Jack Povey p 0-0-0-0, Nick Beetel p 0-0-0-0, Austin Nappi p 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 33 6-7-5.
SOL American-Continental (2) – Brian Hynes ss 1-0-1-0, Dennis Pierce 3b 2-0-0-0, Brian Menhardt lf 2-0-0-0, Joe Picozzi cf 3-0-2-0, Eddie Fortescue 1b 2-0-0-0, Jake Trachtenberg 1b 3-1-1-0, Anthony Bruno dh 2-0-0-0, Matthew McCarthy lf 2-0-0-1, Matt Cooper 3b 2-0-1-0, Jacob Nunez 2b 2-0-0-0, Luke Shank 2b 2-0-0-1, Tyler Young ss 0-0-0-0, Michael Orensky rf 2-0-0-0, James Pello rf 2-0-0-0, Jack Nugent c 1-0-1-0, Jake Drelick c 3-0-0-0, Justin Guidos p 0-0-0-0, Joe Valenti p 0-0-0-0, Mike Gorman p 0-0-0-0, MacLeod Farley p 0-0-0-0, Steven Gallagher p 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 36-2-8-2.
JERSEY SHORE 001 000 005 – 6-7-5-4
SOL AMERICAN/CONTINENTAL 000 000 020 – 2-8-2-3
E-Grant Schulman. DP – Jersey Shore 1. LOB – Jersey Shore 7, SOL A/C 11. 2B – Jared Bellissimmo, Joe Picozzi. 3B – Dominic Proietto. SB – Giovanni Ciaccio, John Volpe, Tyler Young, Jack Nugent.
Jersey Shore ip h r er bb so
Trey Dombronski 3.0 3 0 0 1 7
Matt Pickus 2.0 2 0 0 0 2
Noah Dean 2.0 0 0 0 1 5
Jack Povey 0.0 2 2 2 0 0
Austin Nappi (W) 1.2 1 0 0 0 2
SOL American-Continental ip h r er bb so
Justin Guidos 2.0 2 0 0 0 0
Joe Valenti 3.0 1 1 1 1 4
Mike Gorman 2.0 0 0 0 2 1
McLeod Farley (L) 1.1 3 4 4 0 3
Steven Gallagher 0.2 1 1 1 1 0
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