Finals Bound Townies down Generals, meet Mariners in finals rematch

"Finals BoundTownies down Generals, meet Mariners in finals rematch"

By Nick Curcuru

The 2018 Intertown Twilight Baseball League Finals will be a rematch of the 2017 final.

With a 7-4 win over the Hamilton Generals in Friday's winner-take-all Game 3 at Evans Field, the Rockport Townies have won their semifinal series and will take on the Manchester Essex Mariners in the ITL Finals. The two teams met in the 2017 finals with the Townies taking the championship in five-games. It was their first title since 2007 and it ended the Mariner's streak of five straight ITL crowns.

It was the Generals that came flying out of the gates on Friday night with three straight hits to open up the game, leading to three runs.

Harrison O'Brien's triple gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead just two batters in. The General's number three hitter, Brett Harring, followed with a RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0. Harring then made it 3-0 when he scored on a Chris Huggett grounder on the infield. 

The Townies, however, would fight back to tie the score with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning.

Kyle Nelson put Rockport on the board with a two-RBI single to center plating Nolan Webb, who reached on a single, and Dylan Maki. Nelson later came in to score on a Keady Segel base knock to tie the game at 3-3 after two.

The defending ITL champions took the lead for good with a fourth inning rally.

A Segel sacrifice fly plated Maki, who doubled to lead off the frame, with the go ahead run to make it 4-3. An Alex Webb bloop single then plated Jason Vizena (single) with what turned out to be the winning run, giving the Townies a 5-3 edge. Webb and Conor Ressel, who walked, would later come in to score on a Jordan Pallazola base knock to give the Townies a commanding 7-3 lead.

Things got testy in the fourth frame as the benches cleared when the Generals took issue with a hard and late slide into second base by the Townies. No ejections were issued after some pushing and shoving on the infield.

Hamilton cut the Townies lead to 7-4 in the fifth inning on a Harring RBI single, but they would get no more as Jason Vizena pitched a scoreless sixth and Shawn Hull finished it off. 

Maki turned in the defensive play of the night with a bare handed play on a weakly hit ground ball up the middle for the second out in the top of the seventh inning.

The finals begin on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Field in Essex (4 p.m.) where the top seeded Mariners will host Game 1 against the second-seeded Townies. Game 2 will be played at Evans Field on Sunday (4 p.m.) with Game 3 going back to Memorial Field on Wednesday (5:30 p.m.). If necessary, Game 4 will take place next Saturday at Evans Field with Game 5 going back to Memorial Field next Sunday.