Hamilton 14s advance to Mid-Atlantic semis
HAMILTON » The waiting can be the hardest thing for a team of 14-yearold ball players like the HamiltonNorthern Burlington Babe Ruth All-Star squad.
While trying not to throw their timing off, manager Jim Petersohn’s players worked on their patience to get through a quarterfinal matchup with Horseheads of Western New York in the Mid-Atlantic Regional at Bonacci Field in Switlik Park Friday.
That sounds easier than it was in the sweltering afternoon sun, but Hamilton-Northern Burlington won’t complain after managing 14 hits on the way to an 18-0, five-inning victory.
The win sends H-NB (18-2-1) on to today’s 10 a.m. semifinal at Bonacci Field against Pennsylvania’s West End, which defeated Eastern N.Y.’s Adirondack A’s, 4-0, Friday at Gilder Field in Bordentown because of the threatening forecast.
The semifinal winners Saturday morning return to Switlik Saturday night for a 7 p.m. championship game, which will send one team to the 14YO Babe Ruth World Series in Glen Allen, Va.
“I treated it like batting practice,” Hamilton-Northern Burlington catcher Mike Giambelluca said.
“You had to sit back on it and hit the ball hard,” H-NB pitcher Nate Rodriguez said.
That battery did more than dominate Horseheads’ hitters. They were just as much trouble for the four pitchers the visitors sent to the mound.
Left-handed hitting Rodriguez, batting sixth, ripped a triple off the right-field fence against starting pitcher Nathan Kruckow to plate two runs as part of an eight-run second inning.
Right-handed hitting Giambelluca, batting seventh, then greeted new pitcher Derek Panaski with a two-run home run over the leftfield wall to cap the scoring that inning.
“We don’t take batting practice on the field,” Giambelluca said when asked if he’d ever hit any out in BP.
“We’d lose too many baseballs,” Petersohn said.
That is especially true when someone like Giambelluca gets in his zone.
The young man who will be a sophomore at Bordentown High in the fall bombed another two-run homer over the wall against pitcher Mason Keagle in the third inning to finish with four runs batted in.
“We just have to forget about this tomorrow and pretend like it never happened,” Giambelluca said.
Easier said than done for him and Rodriguez, who was equally impressive on the mound.
The Grice Middle School graduate who will be a freshman at Hamilton High West in the fall limited Horseheads to three hits, walking two and striking out nine.
“I just did my thing and threw strikes,” said Rodriguez, who needed only 58 pitches to go the distance.
His day was made much easier when Horseheads committed three errors in the bottom of the first to allow H-NB three unearned runs right off the bat. The next inning, the home side did a better job with its timing to the tune of eight runs on nine hits. And the beat went on from there.
Shortstop Tyler Solymosi added two hits and two RBIs, while Zac Brown supplied two hits and two runs off the bench.
Less than two hours later, the waiting was over, and HamiltonNorthern Burlington had a spot in the MAR semifinals, needing two more wins Saturday to gain the ultimate reward.
Horseheads Ham.-No.Burl. 3B— RBIs —
HNB: Rodriguez; HNB: Giambelluca 2; HNB: Gibbs, Brown, Niedermaier, Wilk, Solymosi 2, Rodriguez 2, Giambelluca 4. Rodriguez; Kruckow.
WP— 00000—0 000 0x—18 HR— LP— 3 14 5 0