Gershkoff’s bats go silent in shutout loss to R&R

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 7/1/15

By JACOB MARROCCO

Sports Reporter

The Gershkoff Auto Body - Auburn Post 20 legion baseball team left eight runners in scoring position en route to a 2-0 defeat against R&R Construction - Post …

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Gershkoff’s bats go silent in shutout loss to R&R

Posted

By JACOB MARROCCO

Sports Reporter

The Gershkoff Auto Body - Auburn Post 20 legion baseball team left eight runners in scoring position en route to a 2-0 defeat against R&R Construction - Post 18 at Cranston High School West on Monday afternoon.

Outside of leadoff hitter and centerfielder Michael Castillo, who went 2-for-4 on the day, the rest of Gershkoff went 3-for-21 with three walks and as many strikeouts.

“They need to basically approach the game differently right now,” Gershkoff manager David Schiappa said. “They are a younger group, but they’re not approaching the plate, they’re not approaching their swings the way they should be approaching their swings.”

Gershkoff (6-4) looked ready to strike early when Castillo led off the game with a bloop single to left field, advancing to second on a stolen base. No one could drive him in, though. Nik San Antonio popped out to right while shortstop Travis Collins grounded out to move Castillo to third. R&R lefty Riley Miller struck out left fielder Harold Corniel to end the inning.

Gershkoff and Rhode Island College right-hander Myles Levy did his part to keep R&R off the board despite some early jams, too. With runners at first and second with one out in the first, Levy struck out third baseman Matt Peters. Catcher Sam Franco then caught first baseman Ian Smith leaning at first base for the final out. In the second inning, Levy froze Miller at the plate with two outs and runners at first and second to escape the threat.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, but Gershkoff had plenty of chances to jump out on top. Castillo doubled deep to right field in the third after David Cushman reached on an error to put two runners in scoring position with one out. San Antonio popped out to first for the second out, and Cushman was tagged out after trying to come home on a wild pitch.

Mitchell Carvalho did his part in the fourth inning after dropping down a near-perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Collins and Corniel, who led off with back-to-back walks. Second baseman Austin Alzate struck out swinging before first baseman Connor Kiernan walked to load the bases. Franco worked the count to 2-2, but grounded out to shortstop to leave three runners on.

R&R was able to grab the game’s first run in the fifth after shortstop Greg Eng started the frame with a bloop single to right-centerfield. Eng stole second base, and Miller and second baseman Connor Meehan both reached base to load them up. Left fielder Ben McGuire stepped in next and hit a soft grounder just by Kiernan’s glove. Alzate had trouble fielding as well and McGuire reached while Eng came home for the first run.

“It’s very frustrating when you leave [10] guys on base and you know you’re in a one- or two-run game and you make those little defensive miscues that you really shouldn’t make,” Schiappa said.

Levy, as he did mostly all day, worked himself out of the jam before further damage. Smith grounded to San Antonio, who fired home for one out before Franco threw on to first for the double play.

Levy threw fewer than 90 pitches in a complete-game effort, in which he struck out six and walked just one while giving up nine hits and one earned run.

“Myles is a very good pitcher,” Schiappa said. “He’s going to always pitch well. He’s a college pitcher, and basically he did enough to win that game. And we didn’t win it for him.”

The run support just wasn’t there. Again Gershkoff put two runners in scoring position in the fifth, but brought neither of them home. Cushman led off the frame with a single poked down the right field line. After Castillo popped out to short on a full-count pitch, San Antonio singled into left-centerfield for his first hit of the day.

Collins fired a hard grounder down the right field line, but Smith stabbed it and touched first for the second out, but Cushman and San Antonio both moved into scoring position. Corniel couldn’t produce the timely hit, though, as he grounded out to third and stranded the sixth and seventh Gershkoff runners of the past three innings.

“It just seems like some of them are swinging for the fence, or some of them are just not going up there and attacking the ball with guys on base,” Schiappa said. “They just have to come up with a better approach to the plate.”

Gershkoff’s last real threat came in the sixth when Alzate represented the tying run on second base with one out after a single and an error. Kiernan struck out looking and Franco grounded out for the third time in the game to leave Alzate in scoring position.

R&R tacked on an insurance run in the seventh after Eng reached on an error by Collins. He stole second base, but Levy recorded two quick outs in an effort to escape another threat. Meehan came up big for R&R when he lined a 1-2 pitch softly into left-centerfield for a base hit that plated Eng to make it 2-0.

Levy kept his team in it when he forced Smith to line out to Alzate to end the seventh with runners at first and second. For the first time all day, however, Gershkoff went down in order in the final inning to secure the shutout loss.

Gershkoff will be on the road for the next few days at the Second Annual Frederick American Legion Wooden Bat Tournament in Frederick, Md. Schiappa said Gershkoff will be playing some of the best legion teams in the country. Among the squads they’ll see is back-to-back national champions Brooklawn N.J. Post 72, which Schiappa said features three pitchers who throw 90 mph.

“I’ve been all over the country, and typically when we go to these tournaments, we really come back a better team,” Schiappa said. “[We’re] hitting the ball better, playing better defense, and there’s a lot of cohesiveness and there’s a lot of team chemistry on the trip. You see better pitching, you see better baseball. We’ll probably see some lumps, but any time we go to these tournaments, we come back better.”

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