Upper Deck wins state title
DeLuca, Hale deliver in title series doubleheader Friday night
CRANSTON – Before Friday night’s opener of the best-of-three R.I. 19-20 Elite League championship set, Upper Deck had experienced two tough losses to Gershkoff/ Auburn during the regular season.
The first included a brutal walkoff defeat, the other a four-run decision.
One would figure that UD starter/ righthander Kyle DeLuca wanted to avenge those two losses to the Cranstonians, especially given the fact a title – though not on of the American Legion variety – was at stake, but he claimed nothing was further from the truth.
“Whenever we play Gershkoff it’s always a big game, but my mindset was to treat it like any other,” shrugged the La Salle Academy graduate who hopes to walk onto the Penn State University program this fall. “I wasn’t thinking I had to do anything special; I just wanted to keep doing what I had been doing all season.”
DeLuca did just that, but it turned into a masterpiece anyway. He manufactured a complete-game two-hitter with four walks and three strikeouts to deliver to Upper Deck’s 6-0 blanking of Gershkoff.
Upper Deck walked off with the state title later in the night when Addison Kopack drew a bases-loaded no-out walk to score Michael Nocera to secure the 2-1 victory in eight innings at Cranston Stadium.
Cumberland’s Nick Croteau earned the win after he pitched out a firstand-third jam in the eighth inning. It was the Wheaton sophomore’s second curical contribution on the mound in three days.
Gershkoff had only suffered one loss during its 13-1 regular campaign, though DeLuca handcuffed the powerful host’s order with relative ease.
“I thought early on that K.D. didn’t have his best stuff, but the kid battled – and kept battling,” skipper Matt Allard said before DeLuca’s La Salle classmate, Ben Hale, drew the start in Game 2, which started at about 7:40 p.m. “When you do that against that lineup, that’s pretty impressive. That was a great job by Kyle; he’s been doing that all year.”
Offensively, C.J. Davock paced the visitors, going 3-for-4 with a stolen bag and a run, while Dave Bordieri Jr. finished 2-for-3 with a double, theft, RBI and run; Kopack 2-for-4 with a double, stolen base, RBI and run; Randall Hien 1-for-3 with an RBI and run; Andy Ray 1-for-3 with two RBI; and Shane Calabro 2-for-4.
“The guys didn’t surprise me, as this is our sixth straight final (the previous five in state Legion competition, and this is the third in a row we’re facing these guys,” Allard noted. “We won the last two (championships), but we’ve seen them a lot and know each quite well. They’re always good and competitive out there, and very wellcoached.”
Second-ranked UD improved to 13-4 with the triumph, while Gershkoff fell to 15-2. Righty starter Aydin Bliss lasted six-plus frames for the hosts, yielding 10 hits, six runs (all earned) and a walk with four strikeouts. He also hit two batters.
Bliss mustered a fine first frame, but Bordieri opened the second with a double deep down the left-field line, and Davock’s soft hit to left pushed him to third. Hien delivered Bordieri with a rope single to right-center, and that happened to register what proved to be the game-winning run.
It looked as if Gershkoff might get to DeLuca in the back half after he walked leadoff batter Evan Degaitas, then allowed him to rob second. Dave Marchetti then laced a liner to left, but Davock snagged it, then threw to Hien at second to catch Degaitas napping and complete the double play.
The game became sort of a pitcher’s duel/chess match after that – until Gershkoff threatened in the fourth. Andy Florio drew a one-out pass, and Barbieri ripped a double down the left-field stripe to send him to third.
DeLuca, however, forced Anthony Scivola to pop out to second, then fanned Andy Clesas for the third out.
After retiring seven straight, including one in the top of the sixth, Kopack smoked a two-bagger down the left-field line and Davock beat out a soft hit. Two pitches after Kopack stole third, Davock did the same to second.
With Hien in the box and facing a 3-2 delivery, Bliss threw wild to the plate, allowing Kopack to score, Davock to take third and Hien to reach second on the heads-up play.
DeLuca struck out for the second out, but Ray, only 14 and the No. 9 batter in the UD order, whacked a two-run single up the middle to give Allard and co. a 4-0 cushion.
UD registered two more in the top of the seventh after Michael Nocera singled to right and Bliss struck Nick Croteau with a pitch. Gershkoff head coach Dave Sciappa chose to pull Bliss in favor of Nate Poshkus, and he allowed the two baserunners to pull off a double steal. Bordieri crushed a hit to left to plate Nocera and Kopack did the same to put Game 1 in the books.
Defensively, third baseman Croteau closed with four assists and a putout and DeLuca three assists.
As for Davock’s outstanding appearances at the dish, “I’m just seeing the ball very well, and it’s becaause I’m keeping my approach simple. I’m not thinking about anything in the box; it’s more like I’m just reacting to what I’m seeing.
“The beginning of the year, I started slowly because I hadn’t played in six months with the quarantine,” added the Rhode Island College sophomore. “I changed my mindset, decided I didn’t want to think so much. I started focusing on hitting it to right all the time, and I’ve been getting more hits as a result.”
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Upper Deck 010 003 2 – 6 – 12 – 0 Gershkoff/Auburn 000 000 0 – 0 – 2 – 0 Kyle DeLuca and Addison Kopack. Aydin Bliss, Nate Poshkus (7) and Tom Barbieri. 2B – Dave Bordieri, Kopack, Barbieri.