Marlboro tops Pine Plains 3-2 to win MHAL title
Big sixth inning lifts Dukes to MHAL title game win over Pine Plains
Marlboro High downed Pine Plains 10-2 to win the Mid-Hudson Athletic League baseball championship Saturday at the Cantine Veterans Memorial Complex.
The Dukes were efficient at the plate scoring 10 runs on 10 hits, while starting pitcher Brendan Mahusky went the distance, striking out nine while surrendering six hits, three runs and one walk in seven innings and helping his cause by smacking three singles.
“We just want to put the ball in play,” Marlboro Coach John Morrissey said. “We want to advance runners, we want to make sure every at-bat is a quality at-bat.
“We started out slow, but we still had to remain focused and that’s to move runners up,” Morrissey said.
Morrisey couldn’t say exactly how many steals the Dukes mustered but he, “just likes to be aggressive.”
“I like the guys to take the base when we can and put us in scoring position as often as possible.”
Marlboro blanked Roosevelt 9-0 and Pine Plains edged Rhinebeck 5-4 in the semifinals Saturday morning to advance to the championship. Already leading 5-2, the Dukes broke things open with a five-run sixth. Michael Greco belted a leadoff double and later stole third, setting the table for Eric Grezechowski to drive him home on an RBI double down the left field line that put Marlboro up 6-2
Pine Plains reliever Matt Damon’s decision to intentionally walk Sam Mongelli to face Mahusky backfired when Mahusky proceeded to hit a two-run single to drive in Grewzchowski and Mongelli who’d reached second on a steal to give the Dukes an 8-2 advantage.
Things just got worse for the Bombers when Christian Diorio hit a single and quickly made his way to third on a steal and a wild pitch and Alexander Leduc drew a walk and stole second to put runners on second and third. William Logue later hit a two-run single with two outs to cap off the inning.
Noah Haley got the Dukes on the board in the
first reaching on an error at short after drawing a leadoff walk.
Devon Hurst tied the score in the bottom of the second capitalizing on a walk, a 5-3 sacrifice and a pair of pitches that got past Marlboro catcher Trevor Taylor.
Pine Plains took a 2-1 lead in the third on Tyler Funk’s RBI single that drove in Kyle Stracher who reached on a one-out single. But the Bombers would go to strand runners on first and third.
Marlboro was trailing 2-1
in the fourth when LeDuc hit a one-out RBI single to drive in Diorio who’d reached on a leadoff single and advanced to second on a steal to tie the score.
Later, with two outs and the bases loaded, Damon, who came in for Pine Plains starter Adam Funk after he suffered an injury earlier in the inning, uncorked one and hit Grezchowski forcing in the go-ahead run.
Mongelli later hit a tworun single to give the Dukes a 5-2 lead before Michael Paolo grounded out to end the inning.
Rich Lamping tacked on the Bombers’ final run in the bottom of the seventh when he hit a two-out RBI single to drive in Dalton Burns, who’d reached on a two-out single.
Morrissey said he feels confident the Dukes can make a deep run in Sectionals as they await Thursday’s Section 9 seeding meeting.
“We just have to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, play with a purpose, make the plays in front us and hit the ball where the other team isn’t,” Morrissey said.