Dressel settles down to lead NEFL past Senerchia

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 7/12/16

It looked as though Senerchia Post 74 would run away with its first meeting against cross-town rival New England Frozen Lemonade.

NEFL starter Elijah Dressel walked four in the first inning alone, …

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Dressel settles down to lead NEFL past Senerchia

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It looked as though Senerchia Post 74 would run away with its first meeting against cross-town rival New England Frozen Lemonade.

NEFL starter Elijah Dressel walked four in the first inning alone, leading to two runs, and allowed 14 batters to come to the dish in the opening two frames. After that, though, he locked in. The Hawks went 1-for-14 for the rest of the day as NEFL came back to edge Senerchia, 3-2.

“It felt great,” Dressel, who threw 126 pitches, said of the comeback win. “I thought we were playing nine innings, so I thought I still had two more to go.”

After a quick ground out to start the game, Dressel lost control. He said he didn’t have enough time for his pregame bullpen session, so there was still a little rust. It showed as he proceeded to walk the bases loaded.

Joe Boland struck out, but the runners wouldn’t be stranded for long. Conor Kiely ripped a first-pitch, 2-RBI single into right field to score Matt Sweeney and Elijah Brown with the game’s first runs.

“The first two innings counted as my bullpen, and I settled down after,” Dressel said.

The slim lead seemed to be enough for stud sophomore Nico Salvaggio on the mound through the first few innings.

NEFL struggled to touch Salvaggio early on as he pounded the zone. He threw only six balls on 41 pitches through the first three, but NEFL was able to break through eventually. Austin Lamaire and Chad Mansolillo began the rally with back-to-back singles in the fourth, and Josh Coleman reached on an error to load the bases with no outs.

Mark Halloran would work the first 3-ball count of the day and ended up taking ball four to push across NEFL’s first run. Dan Pratt’s fielder’s choice with the bases reloaded tied the game and erased Senerchia’s early lead.

Dressel, meanwhile, found his control and his stride. He only walked one batter beyond the second inning and the Hawks reached scoring position only once in that same time frame.

“I think it’s just a lack of intensity, to be honest,” Senerchia assistant coach Lou Umberto said. “You’re up 2-0, you think, ‘Okay, we’ve got Nico on the bump, we can coast.’ He’s our donkey, he’s our guy. I think once we got in those middle innings, we coasted.”

Bad baserunning doomed Senerchia as well. Dom Crocenzi led off the fourth with a single up the middle, but Marcus Alexander caught him stealing. Pat Thomas reached scoring position in the sixth before Dressel picked him off to end the threat.

“When I was playing we had Mike King, and when he was pitching we’d score one, two runs and that’s good [enough],” Umberto said. “You can’t be like that. We’re playing good teams. They scratched across a few runs and that’s how it is.”

Salvaggio had issues finding the plate in the seventh, walking Pratt and pinch hitter Shane Kittila to start the inning before giving way to Dylan McCormick out of the bullpen. McCormick walked Alexander on four pitches to load the bases and bring NEFL to the top of its lineup.

Matt Boelter stepped in, going 0-for-3 to that point, and didn’t wait around for a walk of his own. Boelter stung the second pitch of his at-bat into center field to score Pratt with the lead run.

“I just wanted to attack the baseball,” Boelter said of his approach. “I just felt like I was due and I just wanted to attack the baseball. If he gave me a pitch, just hit it up the middle. Just drive it up the middle, don’t think too much. If I was trying to do too much, I might dip, so drive it up the middle and keep it simple.”

McCormick worked a fielder’s choice and a double play to escape the jam and prevent further damage, but the Hawks still couldn’t solve Dressel.

A quick 1-2-3 inning for Senerchia brought Dressel’s line to a close: Seven innings, three hits, two earned runs, six walks and seven strikeouts. Salvaggio went 6+ innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and three free passes.

“He threw really well,” Umberto said of Salvaggio. “He’s gonna spot us up and give us a good chance to win every game.”

Senerchia traveled to the Diamond Nation Tournament, which will continue throughout the week. Next up for NEFL was a doubleheader against Gershkoff Auto Body-Auburn Post 20 on Monday at Cranston Stadium, but results were unavailable at press time. The twinbill kicked off a string of six games in five days for Shields Post 43.

Dressel said the victory over Senerchia gives NEFL “a lot” of momentum heading into two games against one of the state’s most explosive offenses.

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