Offense lets down Navigant
Mount’s Kenney allowed just two runs in a complete-game defeat
WEST WARWICK — It wasn’t a bad outing the last time around for Brendan Organ, but his start on Tuesday certainly trumped the one he had the previous week against Riverside Post 10. Facing Woonsocket Post 85 in the first game of a doubleheader at McCarthy Field, Organ dazzled the opposition over seven complete innings of work, allowing just one run on five hits in a 2-1 victory. “He economized those pitches. I don’t know what he finished up with, but he was at 64 through six (innings). When you’re in a league that uses pitch count as a determining factor in your next start, that’s big,” coach John Parente said of Organ’s start, adding that he should be set to go when he takes the mound again next week. “He’s probably somewhere in the vicinity of 75 and 78, so he’ll be ready to go again on the 17th,” he said. His counterpart, Ryan Kenney of Mount St. Charles, was nearly as strong, allowing just two runs over six complete frames in a game that took just 92 minutes to complete. An RBI groundout in the bottom of the first by third baseman Matt Gowdy and a sacrifice fly off the bat of first baseman Joe Barter in the third stood as the only offense Post Two would manage.
“We go on streaks,” Parente said of his team’s up and down offensive production this summer. “We went to Keene, we had basically four hits per game, especially in the last three games,” he said of his club’s annual trip up to Keene, N.H. “Came back home, played Riverside, played Newport, scored 37 runs in three games. Now we come back here and we’re light again,” he said of Tuesday’s low-scoring affair. Post 85 head coach Derek Carignan would have liked to have seen more offensive productivity out of his own club as well. “We were hoping for a little more offense. We hit the ball, they just made the plays,” he said of Post Two’s defense. Post 85 appeared to have surrendered an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the third when Hezekiah Adeyeye was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Cam Reid following a one-out walk, but the visitors would get another chance. Martin Piette then drew a walk of his own and unlike, Adeyeye, was successful in stealing second. An RBI double to right center off the bat of Jacob Gaudreau tied the game up, 1. It was Post 85’s only run of the game. Despite the low offensive productivity, Carignan was proud of the way his team made the opposition earn their outs. “We only struck out three times all game. All the other outs were force outs,” he said, crediting his defense and starter for doing all they could to keep the game close as well.“We played a good game defensively. Ryan pitched a real good game.” Down just one run in the final inning, the visitors managed to get the tying run into scoring position with two out, but Organ ended the threat by getting Gaudreau to fly out to left to end the game. “I liked their temperament today. They knew what they had to do and they got it done, especially defensively,” Parente said of his team’s win. “Josh (Andrade) had a nice game, Jake (Mellor) had a nice catch, Matt (Gowdy) had a pretty good game and Joey Barter at first did a nice job. We played good ‘D.’ When you have a pitcher like Organ and you play good ‘D’ like that, good things happen.”