New Hyde Park 15U Bluedevils Advance to 2013 Championship Series

Written by Arthur Savarese

The New Hyde Park 15U Bluedevils advanced to the 2013 championship series with an 8-1 defeat of the Smithtown Bulls.

The final score was not a true indication how close this game was as Doug Obidienzo pitched in and out of trouble the first four innings preserving a 2-0 lead.

The defense was led by Dylan Savarese and John Hayes, who combined for seven assists and five putouts in the first four innings. Third baseman Mike Thornton made an outstanding play at third and threw a strike to first baseman Liam Gallagher for the out.

The Bluedevils broke on top in the second, when Kyle Cajigas drilled a long triple to the right centerfield fence to open the inning. Hayes followed with a sacrifice fly RBI to the outfield to score Cajigas.

In the fourth the Bluedevils tacked on one more, Mike Greene doubled and stole third base, the catcher's throw sailed into left and Greene scored easily from third.

In the top of the fifth Obidienzo was still dealing and ran into trouble by loading the bases on walks. During a double switch, Mike Greene came on in relief with the bases loaded and no one out. Greene was greeted with a line single to right to cut the Bluedevils lead to 201. Then Greene took matters into his own hands and facing the top three hitters in the Bulls lineup, proceeded to strike out the side to keep the score at 2-1.

With the momentum clearly in the Bluedevils favor, Anthony Pomara started the bottom of the inning with a single and promptly stole second. Matt Gorman delivered a pinch hit off the bench to drive home Pomara. Gorman advanced to second on the throw and another pinch hitter Brandon LaFroscia drove a pitch done the right field line for a RBI double.

The score remained 4-1 until the Bluedevils added cushion in the bottom of the sixth. Anthony Millan walked then stole second, Greene singled in Millan and stole second, Niko Rullo had an RBI ground out, Cajigas doubled, Hayes tripled in another run, Pomara drove in the fourth run of the inning. Mike Greene pitched the last three innings of no hit relief, striking out seven.

The Bluedevils will now face the Queens Eagles in the championship series this weekend.

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