Simmons perfect as ’Canes drop Sentinels

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 4/19/16

Silence was cast over the baseball field at Warwick Vets on Friday afternoon as the seventh inning started up.

Vets ace David Simmons came back onto the mound, not knowing that he had been perfect …

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Simmons perfect as ’Canes drop Sentinels

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Silence was cast over the baseball field at Warwick Vets on Friday afternoon as the seventh inning started up.

Vets ace David Simmons came back onto the mound, not knowing that he had been perfect through six innings. Leadoff hitter Corey Mabray was his 10th strikeout victim, Nathaniel Preziuso was his 11th. After that out, Simmons was told he was one batter away.

“I had no idea,” Simmons said. “They told me last at-bat that it was a perfect game if I get him out, so I just threw my hardest.”

Josh Gorgone stepped in as Smithfield’s last hope, and he skied a pop-up to Chris Reid at shortstop. The ball hit Reid’s glove, and the celebration commenced. Simmons had secured a perfect game on just 75 pitches as the ’Canes won 4-0 over the Sentinels in Division II action.

“It was a great experience for me,” Simmons said with a smile. “I love it. I’m willing to do it again soon.”

There were a couple of scares for Simmons. In the second inning, left fielder Daniel Pratt nearly overran a line drive, but leaped to make the catch. In the sixth, Jacob Afonso grounded a ball up the middle, where Reid slid to cut it off and threw on to a stretching D.J. Kowalik for the out.

“Defensively we pulled it together today,” Vets manager Nolan Landy said. “Last game we played we were really shaky, but today it was a little sharper. D.J.’s done a great job at first base, he was kind of just thrown into the fire but he’s grabbed it by the horns. He’s doing well over there.”

A four-run second inning was more than enough run support for Simmons, and he was the one who got the rally going. He reached on an error by his counterpart before two straight walks to Kowalik and Cameron Skuce loaded the bases. Leadoff hitter David Defusco would reload the bases when Simmons was forced out at home plate on an infield grounder.

Reid brought home the first run of the day on a grounder into left field to easily plate Kowalik from third. Ryan Costa kept the momentum going when he crushed a two-run double into the left center field gap that brought across Skuce and Defusco.

Nick Beaufort’s sacrifice fly to left field closed the scoring for the day, as Costa trotted home to put Vets ahead 4-0.

That four-run deficit was insurmountable with Simmons on the mound. Afonso was the only Sentinel not to strike out once, but he never got the ball out of the infield. Simmons got Afonso to foul out to start the third before striking out Ryan Powell and Joe Paiva to end the frame.

The Sentinels went quietly again in the fourth, though it looked like the perfect game may end in the fifth. Nick DiDonato worked the count up to 3-0 before taking a strike, spoiling a pitch and then swimming and missing for the out. Simmons would go on to strike out the side.

“I didn’t want to walk anybody,” Simmons said. “In my past I used to, but I just wanted to give them my all this year and throw as hard as I can. Get outs, don’t give them up.”

After Reid’s defense preserved the perfect game, Simmons struck out three of the final five batters he faced.

The ’Canes’ clean defense and Simmons’ mastery on the bump saved the day as the offense struggled to produce outside of the second inning. Vets left nine runners on base, including a bases-loaded, one-out scenario in the first and a first-and-second, one-out situation in the fourth.

“We’re jumping at balls, we’re jumping,” Landy said. “We’re missing pitches we should be driving. Guys are dropping their back sides, and we’ll work on that stuff. That was my biggest disappointment today, we had one good inning. I thought Ryan Costa hit the ball really well today. He’s the one guy who really drove.”

Vets will close out its three-game homestand with a 4 p.m. game today against Tiverton. That matchup starts a string of four games in six days for Vets, including a non-league matchup with cross-town rival Pilgrim on Saturday.

“We got a couple next week, hopefully we can get it rolling,” Landy said. “Stalled midweek against Mount Saint Charles, so I think we’ll build off this one. Can’t ask for more than that, a perfect game.”

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