Division 3 baseball: South Hadley jumps on Greenfield in quarterfinals

By CRAIG RILEY

For the Gazette

Published: 06-06-2017 12:55 PM

SOUTH HADLEY — An early power surge and a strong starting pitching performance paved the way to a 9-3 victory for top-seeded South Hadley over No. 8 Greenfield Monday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Baseball Tournament at Landers Diamond.

South Hadley (16-5) advanced to the semifinal round, where it meet the winner of the Mohawk and Mount Greylock at 4 p.m. Thursday at Western New England. The other quarterfinal was suspended in the seventh inning with the score tied, 6-6.

After South Hadley starter Ryan Mooney set down the side in order in the top of the first, it did not take the Tigers long to flex their muscles. The Wave (12-10) recorded two quick outs before Teddy Doyle smacked a line-drive single to left. Cleanup hitter Evan Levrault, after working the count to 2-0, launched a massive two-run home run to left-center field. Greenfield starter Tyler Miner was able to limit the damage, as he set down Tigers center fielder Nehemiah Wilson on a ground ball to third.

After a scoreless top of the second for the Green Wave, the Tigers got things rolling with two outs. Kyle Gemme worked a walk and stole second base. No. 9 hitter Drew Foley made the Wave pay, driving a solid single to left for the RBI. Mooney then helped his own cause, pulling a 3-2 Miner offering over the left-field fence for a 5-0 lead and the Tigers’ second two-run home run in as many innings.

“When you’re down 5-0 right off the bat, it’s hard to dig out of a hole like that,” Greenfield coach Tom Suchanek said.

Mooney retired the side in order in the third and the Tigers added another in the bottom of the inning to go up 6-0. A catcher’s-interference call put David Adams on first, and a walk to Nate Poirier put runners on first and second. Gemme then stung a solid base hit to center to knock in Adams.

In the top of the fourth, a two-run triple by Zack Avery and an RBI groundout by Hunter Campbell cut the South Hadley lead to 6-3.

South Hadley added a run in the bottom of the frame on a scalded RBI single from Wilson. The Tigers tacked on two more in the sixth on a pair of sacrifice flies to get the score to 9-3.

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“We had a long layoff, our last game was Saturday a week ago,” South Hadley coach Matt Foley said. “We did a lot of hitting during that time, but not game-time hitting, and it was good to see them come out swinging. That home run by Levrault went a long way for a high school kid, and it was nice to see Mooney turn on one. It’s hard to focus on hitting when you’re thinking about pitching.”

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