Kennedy stifles South Kingstown in Game 1 of title series

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 6/16/16

When Hendricken needed its ace the most, he showed up with authority. Senior right-hander Matt Kennedy went the distance for the Hawks on Tuesday at McCoy Stadium, allowing just four hits en route to Hendricken's

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Kennedy stifles South Kingstown in Game 1 of title series

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When Hendricken needed its ace the most, he showed up with authority.

Senior right-hander Matt Kennedy went the distance for the Hawks on Tuesday at McCoy Stadium, allowing just four hits en route to Hendricken’s 3-1 win over South Kingstown in Game 1 of the Division I title series. It was the lowest run total for the Rebels to date.

Kennedy threw 117 pitches without a strikeout in his last start in a Hendricken uniform. He also didn’t yield a base hit past the fourth inning and only walked one while hitting two.

“He did a great job,” Hendricken manager Ed Holloway said of Kennedy. “They’re a great hitting team, and he mixed it up. He got enough on his fastball that he was getting a lot of pop-ups from them. He pitched his heart out today. That’s what we needed, he’s our ace and he pitched like it today. Definitely one of the top pitchers in the state.”

Both sides went quietly in the first two innings before the bottom of the Hendricken order started a rally in the third. Catcher Colin McBride walked to start the inning and moved to third two batters later on a single from leadoff hitter and center fielder Dante Baldelli.

Third baseman Matt Sweeney delivered with runners at the corners and one out. Sweeney reached on an infield grounder to the left side, and shortstop Kevin Roberts’ throw got away to bring both runners home.

“I got a great hitting team today, and we’ve been hitting a lot lately,” Kennedy said. “At the beginning of the season, we weren’t really a full team together yet. Now that we’re together, it makes us a great, better-hitting team. We’ve been hot lately.”

South Kingstown starter Greg Ballinger settled down for the last two outs of the frame, stranding Sweeney at second.

The Rebels’ best chance to rally came in the fourth when they had their own runners at the corners with one out. Ballinger helped his own cause with a single into left field to score Roberts, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Kennedy nearly loaded the bases after right fielder Sam Kenyon worked a full count and fouled off several balls, but he flew out to center field on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.

Defense would fall into place later in the inning for Kennedy to help him out of another jam. He plunked Asa Nyblom to put a runner at every bag for Matt Gutelius, who skied a deep fly ball that looked to sneak out of foul territory in left. It stayed in long enough, though, and left fielder Billy Roberge made a diving catch to end the threat.

“This is our home,” Kennedy said of McCoy. “It’s not even a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, it’s like once-a-year for us.”

The Hawks would tack on some insurance in the fifth. Right fielder Brendan Conley and Baldelli both earned free passes to start the inning, forcing Ballinger from the game in favor of reliever Steve Woodmansee. The first order of business was intentionally walking Sweeney, who was 2-for-2 to that point.

Andrew Flint hit a shot down the line to Blaine Lidsky at third base, but he stabbed it and threw home for the force out. Woodmansee looked as though he may escape unscathed when Elijah Brown grounded a chopper to shortstop for a potential double play. The speedy second baseman beat the throw from second and Baldelli scored to push the lead back out to two runs, 3-1.

Meanwhile, Kennedy was a mystery for the Rebels. They would have a baserunner in each of the last three innings, on a walk, hit-by-pitch and error, but none of them would get into scoring position.

Roberts came to the plate as the tying run in the sixth and made Kennedy work for the final out. He got his at-bat to the ninth pitch only to pop up to the infield, where shortstop Andrew Flint called off Brown to make the catch.

Holloway said he would start sophomore Nico Salvaggio against the probable pitcher for South Kingstown, left-handed senior ace Greg Kay, for Game 2 on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at McCoy.

“He’s got to be very focused, he’s got to be ready,” Kennedy said of Salvaggio. “He’s a sophomore, so he might be a little nervous. Even I was a little nervous, too, and I’ve pitched here in Game 3. I think he’ll be ready to go, he’s a good pitcher.”

Should the series get to a winner-takes-all Game 3, the Hawks will throw Joe Maynard. The results for Game 2 were unavailable at press time.

“It takes two wins to end it, and [we] can’t get too high on this,” Holloway said. “They’re a great team. You just have to come ready to play [Wednesday], and play the way we’ve been playing. We’ve been playing good baseball the last three, four games, five games, so we just have to continue against a good team.”

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