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).
