Tuesday, July 1, 2008

FINAL: Smith 3, Utica 0

Hey legion fans. I'm here at Murnane Field's Donovan Stadium for today's 6 p.m. match-up between Smith Post 24 and Utica Post 229. Smith is undefeated and sitting atop Oneida County's Blue Division. Utica is the leader of the Gold Division at 6-1.

I'll be providing live play-by-play updates throughout today's game. Feel free to comment with any thoughts or questions - legion or otherwise - in the "comment" section below.

Starting lineups:
Utica (6-1)
1. Devin Warmack, CF
2. Mike Scotellaro, 1B
3. Mark VanDreason, 2B
4. Ryan Donovan, DH
5. Joe Perrotta, SS
6. Mike King, 3B
7. Mike Obernesser, C
8. Vin Gaetano, LF
9. Tom Reilly, RF
Pitcher: T.J. Abounader, RHP (2-0, 1.40 ERA)

Smith (8-0)
1. Kyle Richardson, CF
2. Ryan Kramer, SS
3. Nate Mallinder, LF
4. Jason Nowicki, RF
5. Zack Ciccotti, C
6. Rocco DeBlasiis, DH
7. Ryan Marquette, 1B
8. Eli Hendrington, 3B
9. Mike Stevens, 2B
Pitcher: Garrett Baker, LHP (4-0, 1 save, 1.59 ERA)

Top 1st: Kyle Richardson led off with in a single up the middle. Richardson stole second on the second pitch to Ryan Kramer. Kramer flew out to right field for the first out. Nate Mallinder struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch for the second out (Richardson stole third on the play). T.J. Abounader struck out Jason Nowicki looking for the third out, stranding Richardson at third.

Bottom 1st: Devin Warmack struck out on three pitches for the first out. Mike Scotellaro walked. Scotellaro stole second on the 1-1 pitch to Mark VanDreason. Mike Stevens couldn't handle the catcher's throw, allowing Scotellaro to move to third. VanDreason struck out on a check swing two pitches later for the second out. Garrett Baker got Ryan Donovan for the third out to strike out the side.

Utica 0, Smith 0

Top 2nd: Zack Ciccotti grounded out to the third baseman for the first out. Rocco DeBlasiss grounded out on a high chopper that Abounader made a great play to snag and throw to first for the second out. Ryan Marquette grounded out to the second baseman for the third out.

Bottom 2nd: Joe Perrotta struck out swinging for the first out. Mike King went down looking for the second out. Mike Obernesser hit a two-out single up the middle for Utica's first out. Baker came back and struck out Vin Gaetano looking for the inning's final out (Baker's sixth stike out).

Utica 0, Smith 0

Top 3rd: Eli Hendrington reached on a weak grounder to short for a single. Mike Stevens gave himself up for the first out, bunting Hendrington over to second. Obernesser threw out Hendrington for the second out went he tried to steal third on a ball in the dirt. Richardson hit a two-out single to right on the next pitch. After Richardson stole second (his third stolen base of the game), Kramer grounded out to VanDreason at second for the third out.

Bottom 3rd: Baker struck out Tom Reilly looking for the first out. Warmack grounded out to Marquette at first for the second out. Scotellaro bombed a 1-2 pitch off the right field wall for a two-out triple. VanDreason drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and third with two outs. Baker picked off VanDreason at first to end the inning and the threat.

Utica 0, Smith 0

Top 4th: Mallinder grounded out 1-3 for the first out. Nowicki singled up the middle. Abounader threw a wild pitch over the head of Obernesser, allowing Nowicki to go to second. Ciccotti walked on a 3-1 pitch to put runners on first and second with one out. DeBlasiis lined out to Gaetano in left for the second out. Marquette flew out to center for the final out, stranding runners at first and second.

Bottom 4th: Donovan grounded out to Kramer at short. Kramer ran to his right and slid, scooping up the ball, before making a solid throw to Marquette at first to record the first out. Baker got Perrotta looking for the second out. King then grounded out to Marquette for the final out of the inning.

Utica 0, Smith 0

Top 5th: Abounader got Eli Hendrington swinging at an 0-2 fastball for the first out. Stevens followed with a ground out to Marquette at first who flipped it on to Abounader, who was covering, for the second out. Richardson flew out to center on a 1-1 pitch for the third out.

Bottom 5th: Baker struck out Obernesser on a 1-2 fastball for the first out. Gaetano flew out to Richardson in center for the second out. Reilly grounded out to Kramer at short for the inning's final out.

Utica 0, Smith 0

*Joe Melioris was warming up in the bullpen for Smith during the last half inning. Joe Perrotta was doing the same for Utica. Baker has thrown 73 pitches through five innings to Abounader's 62.

Top 6th: Kramer walked to lead off. After failing to get a bunt down on an 0-1 pitch, Mallinder hit a single to left to put runners on first and second with no outs. Nowicki flew out to right, moving Kramer to third and putting runners on the corners with one out. Mallinder went to second on a pitch in the dirt. Two pitches later, Kramer scored from third and Mallinder moved up to third on an Abounader wild pitch. Smith 1, Utica 0. Ciccotti walked on the next pitch, putting runners on the corners with one out. DeBlasiis singled to right on the first pitch he saw, scoring Mallinder from third (runners on first and second, one out). Smith 2, Utica 0. Hendrington grounded out to Anounader who threw a strike to first for the third out.

Bottom 6th: Warmack struck out looking at an 0-2 fastball for the first out. Scotellaro flew out to center for the second out. VanDreason dropped a bloop single into right-center to give Utica a two-out base runner. Donovan lined the first pitch he saw toward left field, but Kramer made a nice play to snag it for the final out of the inning.

Smith 2, Utica 0

Top 7th: Stevens grounded out to VanDreason who threw over to Scotellaro for the first out. Richardson struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch for second out. Kramer ripped a liner straight at Abounader who knocked it down with his glove, but his couldn't recover quick enough to get Kramer at first as he beat it out for an infield single. Kramer then stole second and third on consecutive pitches. Mallinder knocked Kramer in with a two-out RBI single to right. Smith 3, Utica 0. Smith brought in Dustin Colgan to pinch-run for Marquette. Nowicki singled to put runners on first and second with two outs. Utica manager Greg Gaeta came out to the mound to relieve Abounader in favor of Perrotta. Justin Hall entered the game at shortstop in place of Perrotta. Abounader's final line: 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Perrotta induced a flew out to left by Ciccotti for the third out.

Bottom 7th: Perrotta struck out swinging for the first out (his third strike out of the game). King grounded out to Baker who threw on to Marquette for the second out. Baker struck out Obernesser for his 12th strike out, ending the game.

FINAL: Smith 3, Utica 0

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good job with the pla-by play. I don't have to keep calling my family at the game for updates. My nephew is Mark Van Dreason. Hopefully they can get the bats going. This pitcher seems to be cruising.

Anonymous said...

Yikes!! Did I say Van Dreason was my nephew?

Andrew Donovan said...

haha it was a good pick-off move by Baker.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully he can make up for it later. Sounds like every mistake is going to count in this game.

Andrew Donovan said...

Definitely. Like the New Hartford-Smith 15-inning game last week, this one could come down to who makes a mistake in the late innings. It'll be interesting to see if UP can stratch one across on Baker as he is cruising pretty good (but Abounder isn't looking to shabby himself).

Anonymous said...

From what I read, it looks like 7-8really solid pitchers in the county. When I played in the late 80's, I can only recall about3-4 during a given season.

Anonymous said...

keith,

Glad to see you are following the team - don't kid yourself, kids just cant hit like we could back in the day.

Anonymous said...

That is true, even the non-starters could hit the ball. The 16,17 and 18 year olds.

Who's annonymous?

Anonymous said...

T.J. Abounader pending Violent Rape charges in Oneida County. 7/28/10.
See Utica Topix Website:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/utica-ny/T4L4A408OP28LQKL7