SAINTS COME UP SHORT
Narragansett severely dents SRA’s playoff hopes
PAWTUCKET – In a Division II regular-season finale St. Raphael Academy desperately needed to win in order to clinch a post-season bid, Narragansett High sophomore Matt Rocchio fashioned perhaps his best outing of the campaign.
The nifty righthander scattered seven hits and a walk (with two hit batsmen) and fanned a trio through a full seven frames to outduel the Saints, 7-2, before a fan base of perhaps 70 at Vets Park on sunny Friday afternoon.
What didn’t help SRA’s cause? A whopping seven errors. Ironically, it also manufactured three impressive twin killings, with the first two playing huge roles in keeping them competitive.
“We gave them a lot of free bases with errors and walks, and you just can’t do
that against a really good team like Narragansett,” veteran skipper Tom Sorrentine stated after his club closed its season at 7-11 in league action. “They also swing the bat a ton, which helped them.”
When asked the gist of his post-game message to his troops in front of his first-base dugout, Sorrentine said, “I just told them that we have a lot of young guys with potential, and that I wanted them to continue playing over the summer. I said I wanted them to work out in the off-season to get stronger and quicker, that they have to keep getting better.
“Then again, they all have to want to improve.”
As for the Mariners, they improved to 11-6 in divisional action, and now will host Mount St. Charles in a now-meaningless tilt for them today at 10:30.
“Terrific!” was how head coach Keith Vellone described Rocchio’s stellar performance, one in which both of his foe’s runs were unearned. “We needed that. We’ve been struggling to win some ball games when (senior) London Sudduth isn’t pitching. Matt’s pitched a good game this year, then followed with a couple of shaky starts, and he’s not alone.
“We’re really trying to find some arms, especially with the upcoming playoffs; the games are back-to-backto-back, so you can’t rely on one or two guys,” he added. “We also needed to win either this one or the Mount game (today) to clinch the sixth seed in the tournament. Now we’re locked in, so we’ll take it.”
Sophomore Eddie Blessing paced the offense, going 2-for-3 with a walk, three stolen bags, two RBI and two runs scored, while Sudduth went 1-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a run; senior Alex Boutin 0-for-2 with two passes and two runs; and Rocchio himself 2-for-4 with an RBI and run.
“We’ve been swinging the bats really well,” Vellone noted. “We were hitting .303 coming into this game, so that’s been a huge thing for us, too … As for Matt, I thought his best pitch was his curve. He threw it for strikes all day long and kept the Saints’ hitters off balance.”
As stated, Sorrentine’s bunch didn’t excel in the field, and that started not long after freshman righty Nolan Potter’s first delivery. Sudduth reached on an infield error and took second after senior captain Jack Betts grounded out to short. Junior Jordan Riendeau followed with a rope single to center, but frosh Taylor Gaspar bobbled it, then threw wildly to the plate as Sudduth scored.
The Saints eventually escaped with only a one-run deficit.
It appeared the hosts would pounce on Rocchio in the back half when junior James Coleman (2-for-3, run) belted a leadoff double to deep center, but he was stranded at third with one out.
The miscues continued to mount in the second after Blessing walked, Rocchio reached on Ivan Rosa’s dropped fly in right and freshman Sam Laurie beat out an infield bunt, loading the bases. Sudduth drilled a rwo-run single to left, and he and Laurie moved up on the throw to the plate.
With one down, Riendeau drew a pass to refill the bags, though senior Chris Owens grounded to third baseman Nate Mottur, who tagged out Sudduth before tossing to first for the double play.
SRA got out of another problem in the third. With one retired and nobody on, Boutin walked and Blessing singled to right, but a misplay allowed him to scamper into second and Boutin to score to make it 4-0. Rocchio followed with a bloop hit short center, pushing Blessing to third, yet Laurie bounced to second, and Rosa managed the 4-unassisted-3 twin killing.
Amazingly, the Saints remained in the contest.
Betts walloped a one-out double to deep left in the fourth, but that went unanswered. The Mariners, however, responded with another pair in the fifth. Sophomore Brian Vaganek reached on an infield miscue and robbed second, moved to third on Boutin’s groundout and hustled home on Blessing’s hit to right.
The latter robbed second, then came in when Rocchio beat out an infield hit up the middle, one that caromed off either Rosa or freshman shortstop Cayden Dupras’ leg and into shallow left.
Despite the 6-0 deficit, Sorrentine and Co. made it mighty interesting in the back half of the sixth.
Coleman led the frame with a soft single to left, sophomore A.T. DiPina reached on Sudduth’s fielding issue at third and Rosa’s opposite-field hit to right plated Coleman. Junior Devon White beat out another infield error to juice the bags, though Gaspar lined out to second.
Rocchio then struck Potter, which pushed across DiPina, yet the rally stalled there.
Narragansett tacked on another in the seventh when Boutin walked, raced to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch, then scored on Blessing’s fielder’s choice.
Potter lasted 4 1/3 innings and yielded nine hits, six runs (one earned) and three walks without a whiff. Sophomore lefty Adam Gomes replaced him and didn’t allow a hit in the final 2.2. He gave up an unearned run and a pass with three strikeouts.
“Potts didn’t pitch badly at all; we just didn’t help him with all the errors,” Sorrentine said. “Gomes did a good job, too, in relief. He’s gotten better and better as the year went on … This was like a playoff game for us because we needed to get there. Why we made so many errors? Maybe we were tight. I don’t know.
“Still, we’re so young (with three freshmen and two sophomores starting, the rest juniors) the future looks bright.”
Narragansett 121 020 1 – 7 – 9 – 2 St. Raphael 000 002 0 – 2 – 5 – 7 Matt Rocchio and Alex Boutin, Owen Costa (7). Nolan Potter, Adam Gomes (5) and Devon White. 2B – Jack Betts, James Coleman.