Planting seeds for the postseason
Upper Deck blanks N.E.F.L. behind DeLuca, Bordieri
WARWICK — Long before he took to the hill at Field B at the Mickey Stevens Sports Complex on Friday night, Upper Deck righty ace Kyle DeLuca knew the importance of his start against New England Frozen Lemonade.
With a win, he and his teammates not only would finish the R.I. 19-20 Elite League regular season with a 10-4 mark, but also snag second place and the No. 2 seed for the upcoming playoffs. Lose and N.E.F.L. would secure that spot.
DeLuca more than did his job, tossing a complete-game four-hitter with only a walk and seven strikeouts, but his offense made his task much easier. Upper Deck’s first three batters reached base and two of them scored for
the early cushion, and the visitors made them hold up in a satisfying, chess-like 2-0 triumph.
“That was huge, giving me that 2-0 lead in the first inning,” stated DeLuca after improving to 5-0 on the campaign. “It gave me a lot of confidence to throw the pitch I wanted to, go right at them right away. I didn’t have to worry about our offense coming around.
“I thought my fastball, change and curveball all were working well,” he added. “I could spot my fastball, get the curveball over for a strike; I threw a couple of 3-2 curves to strike someone out, and that gave me a lot of confidence, too.
“Now we’ve got home-field advantage going into the first round of the playoffs, and playing the seventh seed instead of the sixth is big … Before I took the mound, I knew we had to win this if we wanted the second seed. I also knew I had been in big positions like this before; two years ago, I against this same team in the playoffs, and it was the first time I had pitched all year, so I had a lot of confidence against them.”
Skipper Matt Allard had spoken to his charges for a few days how about what a win over N.E.F.L. would mean.
“We knew what the stakes were; the kids knew that if we win, we’re the ‘two,’ lose we’re the ‘three,’ and the same went for them,” he noted.
“The kids knew this was a playoff game, even though it was just the season finale. They knew it was big and it was a playoff-game atmosphere. Like I said, we knew the stakes.
UD now will prepare to host most probably R&R Construction of Newport in a firstround, single-elimination tilt at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday at Tucker Field. With a win, it would qualify for another single-elimination home contest at 5:30 p.m., Thursday.
Win that, and Allard’s bunch would find itself in the best-of-three championship final series.
The victory nevertheless didn’t come easily. After a rough start, righthander Blake Roberge found his rhythm and himself closed with a complete-game four-hitter. He yielded only one earned run and two walks while fanning a whopping 11.
“We got up early and it was enough to win the game,” Allard shrugged. “That guy (Roberge) is good, real good. He’s an AllState pitcher out of Hendricken last year and now is pitching at Springfield College, so he knows what he’s doing.”
As for the game itself, Shane Calabro opened with a ground single up the middle, and Michael Nocera followed with a perfectly-executed bunt, one that went for a hit. Still with nobody out, Dave Bordieri Jr. smoked a long, opposite-field single down the rightfield line to plate Calabro, and that proved to be the eventual game-winner.
With Nocera at third, Bordieri robbed second, but Roberge struck out both C.J. Davock and Randall Hien before walking DeLuca to put runners at the corners. When DeLyca tried to steal second, however, catcher Jeremiah Mulhane threw him out to end the frame.
In the interim, DeLuca cruised. Sure, Caden Haley produced a leadoff hit in the second and Christian Rapoza another in the third, though nothing came of them, especially after Calabro, Hien and Davock pulled off a nifty twin killing in the latter.
N.E.F.L. threatened in the fourth after leadoff batter A.J. Ucci reached on an infield throwing error and stole second. Jake Randall whiffed, and Jack Gannon followed with a bounder back to the mound, but DeLuca threw to third to catch Ucci. Gannon robbed second after his fielder’s choice, but Haley flew out softly to center to end it.
Roberge walloped a double to deep left to start the fifth, though DeLuca fanned two batters and, after a walk, forced Alex Makor to pop to center.
Roberge had issued a “freebie” to Davock in the fourth, but was “lights out” after that, retiring 13 of the next 14 hitters. He nevertheless took the loss.
“Cal led us off with a hit, then Nocera had the bunt single, and David hit a good piece; those got us going a little bit,” Allard said. “We got those two runs early. We had second and third with nobody out, so we would have liked to have gotten a few more.
“As for Bord, he knows Blake a little from his days at Hendricken, so maybe he knew what to look for there. It sure looked it, and I’m glad.”
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EXTRA BASES: There’s one thing neither Allard, assistants Mike Calabro and Mike Murphy or the team isn’t happy about, and that’s the departure of coveted second baseman Randall Hien, a Lincoln High graduate who has received a scholarship to play at Siena College in New York.
Because of New York state law, any outof-staters who enter it must quarantine for 14 days, so Hien is leaving today for school.
“It’s crazy; I’m all done,” Hien stated. “I feel like I’ve been playing here forever and this is only my first season. They welcomed me with open arms, and we had a great season. I’d do anything to play next week (in the postseason), but school comes first.”
Hien had quite the following at the Mickey Stevens Complex on Friday night, including his mom and sisters, as well as best friend Josh Jahnz and his family.
He indicated he would not compete in “Fall Ball” because Siena already has canceled that program, but the baseball team will continue to practice during those months.
“I’m looking forward to it, but my mind will be back here with these guys, too.”