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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
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By ERIC BENEVIDES Sports writer CUMBERLAND ---- After six games, one thing seems to be for certain: Upper Deck Academy Post 86 won't have to squeak its way into the American Legion playoffs this season.
Winners of just seven games last summer, Upper Deck came into Monday night's game against undefeated Gershkoff Auto Body Post 20 of Cranston seeking its fourth win in 15 days. But Upper Deck fell prey to the strong outing by Post 20's Dan Hopkins, who scatttered seven hits and was backed offensively by a four-run rally that helped his team escape Tucker Field with a 4-1 victory.
While the triumph raised Gershkoff's record to 8-0, the loss evened Upper Deck's record to 3-3, but with a little luck, Post 86 (which is coached by Idris Liasu) could easily be a 5-1 team.
A third-year team that was the 16th and final seed in its first two years of existence and features most of the standouts from this past spring's Cumberland High team, Upper Deck also played well in recently dropping a tough 2-0 decision to last season's regular-season champions, Bishop Hendricken's Hoxsie Cleansers team.
While Hopkins was excellent for the visitors, Upper Deck also received a standout performance from its pitcher, Marc Nunes, who tossed a five-hitter and walked just two batters, but four of those hits came to the first four batters he faced in the top of the fourth inning and helped Gershkoff score their runs.
Ground singles to left by Dan Lovejoy and Brent Hopkins and a line single to right by Joe Enright brought Dan Hopkins to the plate, and the Post 20 pitcher helped his cause by belting a long double to straightaway center that cracked the barrel of his bat and brought home Lovejoy and Hopkins with ease.
After a sacrifice fly to right by Brian LaBianca allowed Enright to tag up and score, Shane Milan grounded out to shortstop to plate Hopkins.
Prior to that inning, Nunes retired the first nine batters he faced, and the soon-to-be Cumberland High senior finished his fine outing by setting down eight of the final nine batters he faced.
Hopkins, a two-time All-State player from Cranston West who is heading to UMass-Lowell on a baseball scholarship, fanned five and walked three in his outing, but more importantly, the southpaw stranded nine runners on base, five of them in scoring position.
In the first, a pair of walks sandwiched around an infield single by Kyle Landry loaded the bases with two outs, but Hopkins silenced the threat with a strikeout. Hopkins later worked his way out of a pair of first-and-second, one-out jams in the third and sixth.
Upper Deck scored its run in the fourth, when with two outs, Jimmy Ferry laced a single to center, raced to third on a bloop single to right by Jared Cardoso, and sped home when Cardoso got caught leaning too far off first and eventually tagged out in a rundown.
Eric Nunes and Ferry each went 2-for-3 to lead Upper Deck's offense, while defensively, Landry, who was making a rare start at shortstop, did a solid job and made one of the two plays of the game in the sixth by diving to his right to snare a line drive off the bat of Austin Milan.
Lovejoy, Gershkoff's center field, ended Upper Deck's hopes for a rally in its half of the sixth by making a nice diving catch of a sinking liner by Cardoso.
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Gershkoff Auto Body 000 400 0--4-5-2
Upper Deck Academy 000 100 0--1-7-2
Dan Hopkins and Shane Milan. Marc Nunes and Matt Milano. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 June 2008 )
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