Waves roll again, top Mystic 15-3
June 25, 2013 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Ocean State Waves News Release
GROTON, Conn. - Mike Gerber collected four hits, Matt Burgess hit his first home run of the summer and Nick Sebastian drove in five runs to pace Ocean State's offensive outburst on Tuesday as it defeated Mystic 15-3 at Fitch High School.
The Waves (8-7) have now won five of their last six games and have scored 15 runs twice in the last four days. The Schooners (8-5) have now dropped back-to-back games.
Both teams went scoreless in the first inning but the Waves were able to get on the board in the second in a loud way. Gerber led off the inning with a monstrous solo home run to center field, his first round-tripper of the season.
Mystic rallied immediately in the bottom of the second, scoring two runs to grab a brief lead. Nico Darras was hit to start the inning and Brandon Cipolla doubled to right-center field to score him with the tying run. Adam Touhey then gave the Schooners their only lead of the game as he laced a two-out single into right field to score Cipolla with the second run.
Ocean State wasted no time erasing the deficit thanks to another solo home run. Leading off the top of the third, Burgess launched a breaking ball over the right field wall for his first home run of the summer, tying the game at 2-2. The Waves weren't done in the inning as Reed Gamache, Evan Ocello and Caden Bailey all singled to load the bases with no outs. Two batters later, Gerber reached on catcher's interference to score a run and Sebastian followed with a two-run single through the left side to make it 5-2.
After Darras homered in the third to make it a 5-3 game, the Waves would score the next five runs to open up a 10-3 lead after seven. In the fifth, Ocello walked and moved to third on an infield error before crossing the plate on a Gerber RBI single to right. Dalton DiNatale drove in the second run of the inning with a fielder's choice.
The Waves then put the game away with eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings. It was another long ball that helped Ocean State in the seventh. Bailey walked, Gerber singled and Sebastian followed by walloping a breaking ball over the left field wall for a three-run home run. It was his third of the summer, tying him for the league lead. In the eighth, the Waves rapped seven hits and scored five runs as they batted around. Burgess and Gamache singled to start the inning, Ocello plated a run with a double to left-center, Bailey drove in two with a single through the right side and Walker Moses capped the scoring with a broken-bat single to right field.
While the Waves offense was rolling along, Ocean State's pitching staff was putting together another strong outing. Making his third start of the summer, Jimmy Duff went five innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out five. Connor Kelly followed with two innings of scoreless relief and Austin Hill closed the door with two scoreless innings. Duff worked a scoreless first, allowed three runs over his next two innings but settled down to notch scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth. He struck out Joel Rosencrance looking to end the fourth and leave two runners on and ended his night with a 1-2-3 fifth. Kelly allowed a one-out single in the sixth before striking out the side in a perfect seventh. Michael Beneduce made a diving play to start an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play and get Hill out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth before the side-winding lefty pitched a perfect ninth.
Offensively, six players registered multiple hits with Gerber's four hits, two RBI and two runs scored leading the way. Burgess finished with three hits and two runs scored, Sebastian drove in five, Ocello had two hits and three runs scored, Bailey had two hits, two RBI and four runs scored and Gamache had two hits and two runs scored.
The Waves wrap up their string of nine games in nine days when they travel to Plymouth on Wednesday. First pitch with the Pilgrims is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 25, 2013
- Bay Sox Strand Laconia - New Bedford Bay Sox
- Waves roll again, top Mystic 15-3 - Ocean State Waves
- Gulls' Offensive Explosion Sinks Plymouth Pilgrims - Newport Gulls
- Blue Sox post epic comeback against Military All-Stars - Valley Blue Sox
- Swamp Bats Fly Past Mainers 8-3 - Sanford Mainers
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