On a special night at Patton Park the Hamilton Generals were able to defeat the Topsfield Tories by a score of 11-9 in front of its biggest crowd of the season. A pre-game ceremony was held to officially name the baseball diamond “Vitale Ball Park” in honor of the late Richie Vitale, who contributed much to the Town of Hamilton, especially to youth athletic programs, before his passing last summer. The Baseball careers of every Generals player growing up in Hamilton/Wenham were helped in some way by Mr. Vitale.
The Generals jumped out to a big 9-0 lead after three innings. With a solid start, Manager Tom Jones was able to use his entire roster during this once in a lifetime game. In the Third the Generals scored 3 runs, all with two outs behind RBI hits from Potter, Maidment, and Maloney. The biggest blow from the Generals was a two run double in the fourth inning off the bat of Andre Painchaud. That pushed the score to 11-0. Icebox Funchion held the Tories scoreless through four innings before allowing 3-runs in the fifth in part to some defensive miscues and timely Tories hitting. Topsfield’s key hit was
a two run double off the bat of Galluci.
Bobby BK Karpp relieved Funchion for the sixth and did not quite have it his way, allowing three runs before Giraffe Jensen put away the final out of the top of the sixth by ranging into shallow rightfield to put away a popup. After six the Generals held an 11-6 advantage.
Leading 11-6 heading into the top of the 7th, Jones called on rubber-armed righthander Mike Drinkwater to close out the game. After 3 more runs cut the score to 11-9, Drinkwater was able to close the door on the Tories for an 11-9 final. Funchion recorded the win to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Maloney (2-RBI), Potter (2-RBI), & Maidment (3-RBI) all had multiple hit games for Hamilton to lead the way. Andre Painchaud and Mark Provost also added 2-RBI's apiece. Andre Painchaud and Justin Tilley were also able to fight one fire, as they were called into action and had to leave halfway through the game. Greene, and Hathaway each had two hits for the Tories, Hitinger and Galluci added 2-RBI's apiece, and Driscol scored 3 times. Matt Rodgers was charged with the loss for Topsfield, but pitched better than the score would suggest, including holding the Generals scoreless for the final two innings.
The teams play again tonight at Patton Park due to a field conflict in Topsfield, this time the Tories will be the "Home" team. Game time is 5:45pm.
contributing author Jim Jazz Maloney.
