The Mariners squeaked out a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night at Memorial Park in Essex. The win puts the Mariners at 5-3 and the Rams to a 4-4 record. Charlie Choate threw a complete game 5 hitter to receive the win for the Mariners (Choate 7ip, 2er, 5k, 2bb). Matt Warden was the tough luck loser for the Rams, scattering 9 hits, striking out 6, and giving up 4 earned runs over his 6 innings of work.
The Mariners struck first in the 1st inning on a leadoff single by Rory Gentile, who then stole 2nd & 3rd base. Bryan Lafata drove Gentile in with an rbi double. Cleanup hitter Nate Bertolino followed that up with an rbi single. The Rams countered back with a run of their own in the top of the 2nd on a walk to Ralph Renzuili, a fielder's choice, and an rbi single for DH Tim Moore. In the bottom of the 3rd inning the Mariners expanded their lead to 3-1 on a solo home run by Lafata. In the top of the 4th inning, Moore led off with walk and was immediately driven home on an rbi double by Dan Slattery, who just came of the Rams bench to play right field. Manchester/Essex tallied their final run in the bottom of the 5th inning when Lafata hit a one out single, Chris Whipple pinch ran for Lafata and scored immediately on an rbi triple to the right centerfield gap off the bat of Bertolino. With the score 4-2, Rowley added one more run on a base hit by Player/Coach Dave Leavitt, who then stole 2nd base and eventually scored on an error made by the Mariners shortstop.
5 Rams tallied one hit each, with Tim Moore both scoring and driving in a run.
Bertolino (3-3 w/2 rbi's, 3b) and Lafata (3-3 w/2rbi, 2r, 2b, hr) led the Mariners.
These two teams meet again on Wednesday night (6/20) at Eiras Park in Rowley at 5:45.
