SPORTS

Warwick Tree Post falls in playoffs

Posted 7/29/21

By ALEX SPONSELLER The Warwick Tree Post American Legion baseball team fell in two games to Gershkoff to fall in the opening round of the playoffs. Gershkoff came from behind to win Game 1, 6-5, then would roll to take Game 2, 8-2. Despite leading 4-2 in

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SPORTS

Warwick Tree Post falls in playoffs

Posted

By ALEX SPONSELLER The Warwick Tree Post American Legion baseball team fell in two games to Gershkoff to fall in the opening round of the playoffs. Gershkoff came from behind to win Game 1, 6-5, then would roll to take Game 2, 8-2.

Despite leading 4-2 in the fifth inning of Game 1, Warwick would give up a two-run homer to Gershkoff’s Dave Marchetti to even things up. Gershkoff would add late runs to rally for the win.

Dylan Aunchman led Warwick at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while AJ Ucci went 2-for-3 with a run. TJ Gormley and Domenic Calise also added runs in the loss.

Gormley went 2-for-3 at the dish with a run scored in Game 2, while Cam Armenti added another.

“We got bit by the injury bug toward the end of the season having to play so many games in such a short amount of time. That’s no excuse, though. All teams have to deal with that. But at the end of the day, (Gershkoff) hit. They put together better at bats than we did. They would rattle off six, seven-pitch at bats, foul pitches, work counts, and hit. They hit when they needed to,” said Warwick manager Mike Fratus. “We were right there with them, especially in the first game. We led 4-2 heading into the fifth and Marchetti came up with a big home run. They turned it on at the right time of the year and got it done. They executed.”

It was a slugfest throughout the season for local Legion teams, as the schedule was shortened and teams were of similar strength throughout each lineup.

“The teams are evenly-matched, 1-8. Even the teams further down (the standings) had some great athletes. We lost some tough games toward the end of the season, but we also had some wins, had some guys step up and have big performances in place of the guys that were injured. We played .500 baseball but just didn’t end up where we wanted to be. Every night was a dogfight,” said Fratus.

Looking ahead, Warwick is set to lose a large core of players next summer, but Fratus is optimistic with his returners as well as the new kids that will be stepping into roles.

“We plan on having a good unit next year, but we are losing nine guys. We have maybe four, five guys on our juniors team that could have played this year but we just didn’t have room for,” Fratus said. “We also have two recruits that have committed. We should shape up pretty good again.”

baseball, sports

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