The champs are coming
Upper Deck wins 6th straight; shuts down Smithfield/NP
SMITHFIELD – For the second time in four days, Kyle DeLuca was on the mound for Upper Deck Post 14.
Just like his previous outing this past Monday, the righthander was the recipient of an offensive attack that enabled him to pitch with ease.
Staked to a seven-run lead after 3½ innings, DeLuca took it from there as Post 14 recorded its sixth straight win
Friday night. The 7-0 victory over Smithfield Post 29 in R.I. 19-20 Elite Baseball League action saw DeLuca spin a complete-game four-hitter with four strikeouts compared to zero walks.
“It gives me confidence knowing that I have a team behind me that’s willing to work hard,” said DeLuca. “I wanted to see how my arm felt in terms of how far I could go, but I wanted to finish the game.”
Upper Deck’s win over Smithfield capped off a busy four-game week where the pitching staff only allowed two runs in 26 innings. DeLuca capped off the brilliant stretch with a 60-pitch masterpiece.
“I’m sure they feel more relaxed out there with a big lead as opposed to when we’re down or tied,” said head coach Matt Allard.
Now 8-3, Upper Deck pounded out 10 hits with David Borderi (three hits) and Tyler Calabro (two hits, two runs) leading the charge. Post 14 scratched out single runs in each of the first three innings before sending nine to the plate in the fourth.
The frame began with DeLuca sending a deep blast to left-center. He appeared to have a shot at an insidethe-park home run. He ended up settling for a triple.
“I wanted it pretty badly, but I wasn’t too mad. I did end up scoring,” said DeLuca.
It was Calabro who singled in DeLuca to make it 4-0. With runners on second and third and a new pitcher on the mound for Smithfield, Mike Nocera doubled them both in to extend
Upper Deck’s lead to two field goals.
The run differential became a touchdown and an extra point when Borderi drove in Nocera with a base hit.
“The kids are swinging the bats well and that’s allowed us to jump out to those big early leads,” said Allard. “Baseball is a tough sport that comes down to confidence. You get a hit here and two hits there, but most of the guys have had 40-plus at-bats. That’s a big factor [after being shut down for so long due to the coronavirus pandemic].”
The bats went silent over the final three innings, but DeLuca didn’t allow Post 25 to creep back into the picture. He retired eight of the game’s final nine batters. His only true adversary on the night was Matt Antones, who collected two hits. Smithfield fell to 3-6.
The final week of the regular season begins Monday with a visit from South Kingstown to Tucker Field. There’s a makeup game on Tuesday at home against Smithfield before a trip looms to New England Frozen Lemonade on Friday. Right now, Upper Deck has its sights on claiming the No. 2 seed.