Hamilton repeats at ITL champs after epic 12 inning Saturday clash
By Matt Williams
For
the first time in more than 50 years, Hamilton has won back-to-back
championships in the Intertown Twilight League. Beyond that, though,
what the Generals and Manchester Mariners did on Saturday might never be
duplicated in another 50 years of summer baseball.
An
epic 12-inning clash that multiple observers said was the best baseball
game they’d ever witnessed was tied 4-4 on Saturday night when it was
called due to darkness. Under ITL rules, that Game 4 had to be repeated
in its entirety at Gosbee Park on Sunday (rather than picked up
beginning with the top of the 13th).
Defending
champion Hamilton rallied to win that Game 4, 8-4, to take the
best-of-three series 3-1 and claim the ITL title for a second straight
summer.
A
seven run explosion in the fifth inning broke the game open and
delivered the championship for the Generals. A fielder’s choice RBI by
Harrison O’Brien gave Hamilton the lead, Paul Horgan followed with a
single and Nick Freni was hit by a pitch with the bases full to make it
5-3.
Connor
McClintock then delivered the knockout blow with a 3-run double with
two outs to produce an 8-3 cushion. Ace Luke McClintock came on for the
final three innings to slam the door, allowing no hits and fanning five
while conceding one unearned run.
Adam
Green picked up the win with four innings of efficient work. Carter
Coffey scored a pair of runs, including one in the first inning, and
Horgan added two hits.
For
the Mariners, Corey McCollum had a 2-run double to yield a 3-1 lead in
the third. Kevin Carter scored twice, James McKenna scored once. Jack
Shaw threw five solid frames but couldn’t hold the Generals lineup down.
As
memorable as winning a second straight title was, Saturday’s would-be
Game 4 is the one North Shore fans may talk about for years to come.
Needing a win to keep the series going, Manchester turned to ace Rusty
Tucker and he delivered one of the most impressive performances of his
long and illustrious ITL career.
Tucker
threw 10 innings and struck out 17 batters while only walking one on a
Herculean 161 pitches. He worked his way around 10 hits, the vast
majority of those in the late innings. Hamilton had the potential go
ahead run left on base in the seventh, thrown out trying to score in the
eighth and left on base in the 11th before finally breaking trough
against bullpen are Brett Moore in the 12th.
Tobin
Clark-Goldfeld led off with a single and scored on an O’Brien single.
Hamilton added an insurance run on a Carter Coffey single to put the
Generals three outs away from the title.
Sachem
Ramos, however, had other plans. One of Manchester’s heroes clubbed a
2-run homer with no outs to knot the game once more at 4-4 in dramatic
fashion.
The
Mariners threatened to walk off when McKenna followed with a single,
but Coffey bore down to record the next three outs (including Freni
throwing out a runner stealing) to end Saturday’s bout in a stalemate.
Coffey
wound up throwing eight innings in relief, the first seven of which
were scoreless before Ramos’ bomb. He fanned eight and Phil Durgin threw
the first four with four strikeouts, but Manchester had a 2-1 lead when
he left.
With
Tucker dealing, it appeared Manchester would win and force the
winner-take-all Game 5. Freni had other plans, clobbering a solo homer
in the top of the sixth to make it 2-2 and force the extra frames.
Caulin
Rogers and Corey Burnham also had hits for Manchester on Saturday. The
Gens couldn’t manufacture a lead despite having a 15-7 edge in hits with
big knocks from Luke McClintock (3-for-6), O’Brien (3-for-6), Freni
(2-for-6) and Connor McClintock (2-for-6).