Tolman wins city showdown
Tigers win third game at McCoy; down St. Raphael
PAWTUCKET – With the annual Thanksgiving Day football rivalry between Tolman and St. Raphael Academy a long-ago memory, the schools also have had a drought on the baseball diamond.
That was due to the fact the Saints had spent most of the previous 15 years, if not more, playing opposite Division I competition, while the Tigers remained in one of the two lower categories, courtesy of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s two- or three-year realignment.
For the first time in eons, they met in a pivotal Division II showdown inside McCoy Stadium on Monday afternoon, and Tolman had to avert a massive meltdown in the seventh inning to notch a scary 7-5 triumph.
Senior righty Peter Microulis earned the decision, despite yielding two doubles and four total hits in the Saints’ three-run seventh, to move to 3-1 on the campaign. In the end, he scattered seven hits, four earned runs and three walks while fanning four in a 6 1/3-inning stint.
Junior Kyle Depatie earned the save as the Tigers upped their overall mark to 5-2 (4-2 league).
“It’s been a long while since we’ve played them; maybe it goes back to the early 2000s,” Sorrentine stated after the loss dropped his squad to 2-6 overall and in divisional action. “I’m proud of the way we battled; we didn’t quit in that last inning. We showed a little life. If it hadn’t been for a really bad first, we may have been OK.
“I don’t know if it was because the kids were overwhelmed playing inside McCoy, but we made a lot of mental errors, those we usually don’t make,” he continued. “We just weren’t focused, and it killed us. After that, we settled down and played pretty well. We hung in there. It still hurts because a base hit would’ve tied it up.”
SRA had trailed, 7-2, entering the top of the seventh, but sophomore No. 8 batter James Coleman stroked a leadoff double down the left-field line. Microulis then fanned senior Justin Simmons, though classmate Pat Fleming singled up the middle, and fellow senior Elliott Vadnais smoked a tworun two-bagger to the left-center gap to slice the deficit to 74.
The eventual losing pitcher, senior Brandon Aldridge, whacked a hit to left, and that caused Tolman head coach Theo Murray to replace Microulis with Depatie.
On his first delivery, sophomore Ivan Rosa knocked a single to left to plate Vadnais, and both he and Aldridge scampered into scoring position on a passed ball.
Depatie, however, forced freshman Rob Costa to line to short, then whiffed fellow frosh Braxton Fontaine on a called third strike.
“We held on,” Murray sighed later. “Peter was a little off (Monday). He wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, but he battled and earned the win. He was just off on his pitch count; we forced him to throw too many in that first inning, so that didn’t help him. He finished with 108, so that was enough.
“At times, Pete was painting the corners and getting strikes; at others, he’d get the ball up, and they’d manufacture hits.”
Sophomore Izaiah RiveraLopez paced the victors, going 2-for-2 with a double, two RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Depatie went 2-for-3 with two runs; junior Ethan Bernardo 1for-3 with an RBI and run (not to mention a pair of brilliant plays in the field); and senior Tin Greene (1-for-2, sacrifice bunt, RBI).
Microulis helped himself, going 2-for-4 with a run and two stolen bases.
On the Saints’ side, Rosa led the way, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a theft; while Vadnais finished 1-for-4 with double, two stolen bags, two RBI and two runs; Coleman 2for-3 with a run); and Fleming 1-for-3 with a pass and run.
SRA took advantage of Tolman’s lone miscue of the game in the top of the first. With one down, Vadnais hit a routine grounder to second, but senior first baseman Aaron Massey simply dropped the ball. Vadnais then robbed second and third before Rosa’s hit to left scored him.
The Tigers, however, notched a crooked number four on Aldridge in the back half, and all were unearned.
Microulis initiated the flurry with an opposite-field single to right, then stole second. Bernardo then reached on a fielding error, and – when Bernardo took off for second – Microulis raced in on a delayed double-steal.
Depatie’s bloop hit down the line in right pushed Bernardo to third, and RiveraLopez dropped a bunt right at Aldridge. When the second baseman failed to hustle to first to cover the bag, Aldridge threw wildly, allowing Bernardo to score and RiveraLopez to move up.’
Depatie eventually came in on a passed ball and RiveraLopez on the Saints’ third mistake of the frame.
In the interim, Microulis cruised, retiring 10 of 12 before Coleman ruined his one-hitter with a hit up the middle. He robbed second, and Simmons walked, but Tolman skirted the issue.
Murray’s bunch tacked on two more in the fifth when Depatie grounded a leadoff single to center and RiveraLopez drilled an RBI double to the left-center gap. He gained third on an outfield overthrow, and Greene executed a stellar suicide-squeeze bunt to plate him and give the Tigers a 6-1 cushion.
SRAanswered with a run in the sixth after Aldridge walked, took second on Rosa’s hit, moved to third on Costa’s groundout to short and scored on a wild pitch. The Saints, though, stranded Rosa at third.
(For an amazing factoid, Microulis ended his first five frames with assists on groundballs to the hill).
Tolman looked as if it had sealed the win when – in the back half – sophomore Justin Klemanchuck reached on an infield hit, stole second and sprinted in on Bernardo’s single to left. Still, the Saints retired him after an entertaining pickle.
“I thought (Aldridge) did a good job out there,” Murray said. “He has a quirky little sidearm delivery, but he kept us off-balance. His defense just let him down in that first inning.
“After the game, I told the kids that we still have a lot of work to do,” he added. “Our goal is to be out on this same field in the middle of June (for the D-II finals). If we want that, we’re going to have to play a heck of a lot better.”