SOL National/Bicentennial blanks Jersey Shore in Carpenter Cup baseball opener
PHILADELPHIA – It was cast as a rematch of 2015 Phillies Carpenter Cup championship, pitting the defending champion SOL National/BAL all-stars vs. the Jersey Shore team, the 2015 runner-up that won the 2014 crown.
The Monday afternoon duel June 13 at UYA Showcase Field at FDR Park in South Philly didn’t live up to its expected billing, however.
The Suburban One all-stars pushed two unearned runs across the plate in the second inning and added three more in the third on RBI hits by Council Rock North senior Seth Leuz and MaST Charter junior Matt Carter, and a sac-fly by Abington junior Paul Poppert.
By then, the game was all but over. SOL National sucked all the fight out of the team from the Jersey Shore.
“If that was me on the other side, I would have been a little pissed off,” admitted Suburban One starting pitcher Billy Meyer, a Neshaminy senior who pitched at Conwell-Egan last year and tossed three hitless innings in this game.
“We put a couple runs up early and I think when you do that to a team, it humbles them a little bit.
Fresh off the Indians’ run to the state quarterfinals, Leuz didn’t skip a beat, going 1-for-2 with an RBI single, a walk, a pair of runs scored and three stolen bases.
In the second inning, Leuz walked, stole second and third base, then scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Carter walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a mishandled grounder to short by CR South senior Shaun Stackhouse.
In the third, Leuz fouled off numerous 2-2 pitches before stroking an RBI single up the middle that scored Neshaminy freshman Cory Joyce.
“Seth, he did everything today – fielding, hitting – he was amazing on the basepaths,” said CR South junior Josh Kim, who started at third base. “Seth just really helped us get this win.”
“Seth really set the tone for us on the bases,” added SOL National-BAL co-coach Dave Torresani. “I asked him to do a couple things for us and he did it. One thing he did on his own and it was really awesome. He had a great read and put the wheels in motion and we picked up on their mistakes.”
Carter followed the single by Leuz with an RBI double for the only extra-base hit for the SOL Nats and Poppert scored Dock senior Tim DiLoreto to push the score to 5-zip in the top of the third.
“Once we put across the fourth and fifth run, that just finished them,” stated Meyer, who recorded the win.
For his part, Meyer walked a pair of batters in the first inning before retiring the side in order in both the second and third frames before giving way to Chris Dock junior Dan Sabath in the fourth.
“The first inning, I went out and tried to throw it by everybody,” said Meyer. “I forgot it’s a team game.
“The second inning, I went out and figured, let me use the guys behind me. I trust them; they’re the best in our league. I was throwing to contact and they made the plays.”
The SOL Nats made all the plays and Meyer got stronger in the second and third innings, sending the opponent down in order. Defensively, Jersey Shore committed an error in each of the second, third and fourth innings while Suburban One didn’t record any gaffes in the entire contest.
“As the game went along, he found more of a groove, more momentum,” said Kim of the start by Meyer.
“I feel like what also was big was our defense. His mix of pitches on top of our defense gave him the momentum to succeed.”
While Sabath bent a little bit – the Pioneers pitcher surrendered a leadoff triple in the fourth by Middletown South senior Johnny Zega, put a pair of runners on in the fifth and allowed a one-out triple in the sixth by Toms River North junior Mike Nyisztor – he sure didn’t break.
“When the kid got the leadoff triple, Sabath, he was just a bulldog,” said Torresani. “You could see the caliper of pitcher he is.”
After Zega’s triple, Sabath got catcher Cieran Devenney to ground out, then retired Austin Markman and Doug Facendo on infield liners, leaving Zega stranded on the hot corner.
“When you hold a team like that – apparently they have 10 Division 1 signees on their roster – to four hits, that’s a tremendous job by our pitching staff,” commented Torresani. “And then our defense was terrific.”
From the third inning on, there was not a lot of offensive spark from either side. The sixth inning was the only exception. That’s when Pennsbury freshman Justin Massielo reached on a walk, stole second, went to third on sac-fly by William Tennent sophomore Greg Delgadi and scored on a wild pitch
“We scored a couple runs on wild pitches but you can’t score those runs if you don’t get to third base,” commented Torresani.
Defensively, the SOL National pitchers kept the shutout going. When Nyisztor stroked a one-out triple to right field in the sixth inning, Sabath fanned Christian Brothers Academy sophomore Nick Hohenstein and retired the side when he induced a fly ball to centerfield by Central Regional sophomore Tom Ruscitti. Pennsbury’s Tyrone Hodges Jr. made a nice running catch to end the inning and keep the Jersey Shore team scoreless.
“Every time they had a chance to score, we shut down their momentum,” said Kim.
“Two innings, they had leadoff triples with zero outs. Our pitchers threw strikes and they didn’t score; we just shut them down.”
In right field as a late defensive replacement, Chris Dock senior Rashid Saint-Fleur recorded back to back putouts on a pair of line shots by Jersey Shore to open the eighth. He made another big putout in the ninth after Ruscitti stroked a two-out double in the final frame.
Abington senior Greg Troyer, Pennsbury junior Billy Bethel and CR North senior C.J. Kilgariff tossed scoreless innings in each of the last three innings to finish the game in shutout fashion.
For their efforts, the SOL National/Bicentennial advances to face Olympic Colonial 9 a.m. Friday, June 17 back at the Phillies Carpenter Cup sports complex at FDR Park.
NOTES: The SOL National/Bicentennial team has reached the Carpenter Cup semifinals six of the last nine years, taking the top prize twice, in 2008 and last year.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
Phillies Carpenter Cup Tournament
SOL National/Bicentennial 6, Jersey Shore 0
(June 13 at UYA Field)
SOL NATIONAL/BAL 023 001 0 – 6 3 0
JERSEY SHORE 000 000 0 – 0 4 3
WP — Billy Meyer 3IP, 0R, 0H, 2BB, 2SO, 0HB; LP — Dan Chiusano 3IP, 5R, 2H, 4BB, 2SO, 1HB.
EXTRA-BASE HITS: SOLN/BAL — Matt Carter 2B; JS — Johnny Zega 3B, Mike Nyisztor 3B, Tom Ruscitti 2B.
RBI: SOLN/BAL — Seth Leuz, Carter, Paul Poppert; JS — none.
