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Lincoln earns rematch with SK |
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Monday, 26 May 2008 |
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By JAMES BESSETTE RISN sports writer LINCOLN — Lincoln High has earned a rematch with South Kingstown in the RIIL Division IV region finals.
The top-seeded Lions ousted Coventry in the losers’ bracket finals on Sunday, courtesy of a 5-2 win.
The Lions now have an opportunity to seek revenge Tuesday evening in the Region 4 Finals at Pierce Field in East Providence, the team that sent Lincoln to the losers’ bracket last Friday.
“We knew that this (Coventry) team was going to be scrappy,” Lincoln head coach Edward Hunt said. “On any given day, anybody can beat you. So, we were up for them and wanted to get the job done.”
One element that was missing against the Rebels last Friday was getting that all-important hit with runners on base, something that the Lions were extremely successful at against Woonsocket in the opening round.
However, John Tangherlini’s quick work at the plate in the first inning reversed the once ill-fortunes of Lincoln. The big Lions’ pitcher helped out his own cause on the afternoon, driving home Zak Trenteseaux from second for Lincoln’s first run of the game after Trenteseaux doubled to left field in the previous at-bat against Coventry starter Nick Ziehl.
There would be more damage by the Lions with runners on in the second inning, this time of the two-out variety. With runners on first and second, freshman lead-off hitter Matt Sorkin took the first pitch he saw from Ziehl and laced it into left field for a single, scoring Alex Key from second.
On the play, Coventry left fielder Steve Alden had the ball skip by him and roll deep towards the fence in left-center, allowing David Hoey to score all the way around from first, upping the Lions’ lead to 3-0.
Sorkin would drive home his second run of the afternoon one inning later with another single to left for a 4-0 Lions’ lead, which was followed by a Trenteseaux RBI single to left field.
“We’ve got some good young talented kids coming through,” Hunt said. “We only had one senior on the field (Ryan Silva) the whole game. It’s refreshing to know that we have a good nucleus and we have something to come back with next year.”
Tangherini grinded his way on the mound through six innings, allowing only four hits and two earned runs – both coming on an Andrew Boyer two-run single in the sixth – and striking out four.
As much as the timely hit was there for Lincoln, the same could not be said for the Oakers. Despite Tangherini issuing seven walks in his outing yesterday, Coventry was crippled by the double-play ball. In three-consecutive innings, second through fourth, the Oaker faithful had to bear witness to watching their team’s possible scoring chances go by the boards by way of a groundball twin-killing.
“Two out of those three balls we hit hard,” Coventry head coach Leo Bush said, “and it was right at people. They (Lincoln) made it look easy and that’s why they are such a good team. We had our opportunity against a real good team to do some damage.”
Bush also said that he opted to throw Ziehl on his normal rest yesterday despite throwing nine innings on the season, including three against Chariho last Friday, with Flynn fresh on the bench. But, according to Bush, Ziehl only threw 27 pitches on Friday, similar to a bullpen session in order to get ready for yesterday’s start, plus Bush wanted to save Flynn in case the Oakers had a date with South Kingstown tomorrow.
“He was ready to go today,” Bush said of Ziehl, who allowed eight hits to Lincoln in the loss. “But, when I asked ‘who wanted the ball?’ to our pitchers this afternoon, he was the one that stepped up and said, ‘I want it.’ That’s what you want from someone that has brought you this far.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 May 2008 )
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