Dawgs swat Jackets

TED WADDELL
Posted 5/16/18

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — And then the rains came. First it was a deluge of runs by the home team, and then it was a downpour that ended the game. It was a good afternoon for the home-team Bulldogs …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Dawgs swat Jackets

Posted

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — And then the rains came.

First it was a deluge of runs by the home team, and then it was a downpour that ended the game.

It was a good afternoon for the home-team Bulldogs of Sullivan West (5-7 overall) as they batted their way out of a slump by defeating the visiting Eldred Yellowjackets 11-2 on Thursday, May 10 at Lion’s Field, their old stomping grounds, before switching over to the new field at the main campus.

For Eldred, (0-10) it was a bit of a dog-day afternoon, as they were left still waiting for their first win of the season.

One thing you can say for certain about Eldred’s young varsity swatters is they don’t call it quits, battle to the very end and don’t make excuses.

The Yellowjackets' helmsmen, Matthew Curreri and Joshua Santoro, are always out there ‘pitching’ positive teaching moments to their team.

Santoro cracks jokes with both sides of the bench, and in the game against the Dawgs called over to the home team dugout on the way to the first base line “Your pitcher is getting tired, you’d better get him out of there," making light of the fact that Shaine Hubert was striking out Yellowjackets left-and-right with some serious heat from the mound, on the road to hurling a three-hitter.

Sullivan West scored first in the opening frame, sending one runner across the plate, added three in the second, two in the third, and three more in the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth inning, Eldred score a run and added another in the fifth.

The Bulldogs racked up two runs in the bottom of the fifth frame to close out the scoring with a 9-point victory.

The Bulldogs stacked the deck a couple of times, and taking advantage of a few defensive errors, sent runners into the promised land.

Standout Sullivan West stats: Brandon Daily was 3-for-4, 4 RBI; Eric McBride was 1-for-2, 2 RBI: James DeAverio 2-for-4, RBI.

As the heavens began to open up with thunder in the background and lightning starting to flash in the distance, the umps and coaches called it a day.

Joshua Santoro, co-coach of the Yellowjackets, said of the so-far winless season of swats, “It hasn’t gone exactly as we wanted it to... [but] we’ve been in a lot of games… some of the balls just didn’t go our way.”

“We’ve got a young team, so we’re going to make young mistakes. They never give up, always fight hard and are a pleasure to coach.”

Eldred’s starting pitcher was Nick Curreri. He was almost relieved by Ryan Benjamin in the bottom of the sixth, moments before the game was called.

“I really don’t look at the wins… we came together really close this year and keep playing hard ," said the 16-year-old junior.

Jake Elvis, an 18-year-old senior takes to the field for the Yellowjackets as a pitcher/first baseman.

“It could have been a little close, we just didn’t have the right bats and didn’t hit the ball hard enough… we’ve come together more as a brotherhood than in past seasons," he said.

Bill Kirk, coach of the Bulldogs said his team is hoping to pull a rabbit out of the hat, trying to fight their way to a .500 season, thus making it to sectionals.

“I’m very happy with the way Shaine pitched today… he was in the strike zone all day long, and kept their batters off balance… I liked the way our offense clicked today. We were able to move runners and score runs in a timely fashion.”

Brandon Dailey cuts ‘em off at the hot corner for the Bulldogs.

“We’re kind of down right now, and it was great to bounce back," he said of going into the game with a 4-7 record.

“It was a good game to get our confidence back up.”

jeffersonville, baseball

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here