Today was Day 2 of the “Division-II vs Cancer Tournament” in Cary, NC at the beautiful Team USA National Training Complex.
Below are my observations from today’s games which included LIU Post vs. Findlay, NYIT vs Findlay, LIU Post vs Franklin Pierce and St. Thomas Aquinas vs College of St. Rose.
LIU Post vs Findlay:
Noah Lorenzo was very impressive, he just did what he does–he attacked the strike zone with 78 MPH two-seam fastballs and 67 MPH change ups down in the zone. You can scoff at the velocity, but the sophomore LHP has routinely made lineups of all talent levels look foolish dating back to his days at St. John the Baptist. He wound up pitching six innings, striking out nine and allowing just two runs. Most of his strikeouts came on change ups dotted on the outside corner. He’s truly a treasure to watch, he knows what he’s doing and he’s confident. Coach Gaffney joked after the game that “I don’t let him throw above 78 MPH”. He left with the lead, but the Pioneers were done in on a wild pitch that scored two runs in the top of the ninth by Kurt Rissland. It was a bizarre scene and something that statistically will probably never occur to them this season. It just happened to be in the ninth inning of a game that they were leading. Most of their runs came on unearned runs, Findlay made some miscues early in the game that the Pioneers took advantage but Findlay tightened up in the later innings and the offense couldn’t muster up any rallies.
The defense usually is really impressive–especially at second base with Ramger Iglesias, SS with Joe Spitaleri and 3B with Jimmy Mendyk. All of them are smooth, have great range, sure hands and Iglesias can throw from all sorts of arm angles which is beneficial on the slow rollers. In this game, however, they made a number of errors that cost them dearly. They committed five errors and tallied only four hits. Spitaleri botched a routine double play in the sixth inning moving towards the bag and catcher Anthony Vaglica sailed one into center field on a stolen base attempt that allowed a run to score. They also dropped a popup in foul territory that should’ve been handled.
They didn’t get much going offensively, no player registered more than one hit. Mike Stiles was impressive in relief, hitting 86 MPH and showing a 70 MPH change up that had tons of horizontal movement.
Findlay won the game 6-4, a poor showing overall from LIU.
They bounced back, which brings me to the next one.
LIU Post vs. Franklin Pierce
James Varela took the mound and was the stopper. He fired a complete game shutout, allowed only four hits and struck out 13. He sat 84-86 MPH but his biggest weapon was his 76 MPH slider. He threw it on any count and he threw it off the outside corner where he couldn’t get hurt. He only ran into trouble in the ninth inning when he threw a wild pitch that put runners on second & third with two out, but got a comeback to end the game. Pierce is typically a dynamic offense, these two teams actually matched up last month with Post defeating them 20-16. Needless to say, this game was different. Their defense was sharp, Mendyk was his typical self at third. They won by the score of 2-0.
Pierce’s starter Zach Hart was also impressive. He used an effortless delivery to sit 87-90 MPH with a couple 91s. He was around the strike zone all game with a 73 MPH curve as well. He performed well in the loss.
St. Thomas Aquinas vs College of St. Rose
Chris Cepeda was dominant. The game was close, 3-3 in the sixth inning but STAC broke it open late and won 11-3. I only got to see a few innings as I was bouncing around but Cepeda never ceases to amaze. He was sitting 81-83 MPH but he uses a crossfire delivery, he throws plenty of sliders and splitters and he works down in the zone. Not many comfortable swings against him. He also dots the corners with his fastball and it’s amazing how many strikeouts looking he gets. He was the winning pitcher in this one.
NYIT vs. Findlay
This was another close one for much of the game. NYIT starter Chris Miller had some good stuff, touching 90 MPH in the first inning and sitting in the mid-to-upper 80s for much of the game. He was tagged with the loss, though, as he walked a batter with the bases loaded to score the go-ahead run.
NYIT showed a lot of fight in this one. They were trailing 3-0 early but mounted a rally and used RBI hits by Joe Fusco and Nick Tedesco tied the score back up. Another impressive player was catcher Ryan Kuskowski who barreled the ball up all day.
Earlier in the day, NYIT defeated Dominican 4-2 with D.J. Masuck getting the victory, it was their first victory of the year.
