DANDY DOZEN: Mariners sweep Townies to advance to ITL Finals
For the 12th season in a row the Manchester Essex Mariners are heading to the Intertown Twilight Baseball League Finals.
The Mariners punched their ticket to the finals on Monday with a 5-2 win over the rival Rockport Townies to complete a two-game sweep in the best-of-three semifinals.
Manchester Essex now awaits the winner of the other semifinal series between the defending ITL champion Hamilton Generals and Rowley Rams. Heading into Tuesday evening's Game 2 the Generals held a 1-0 series lead thanks to an extra innings win in Game 1 of the series.
The ITL Finals will begin on Saturday, August 12 with the fourth-seeded Mariners hitting the road. The Finals goes to Gosbee Park in Essex for Game 2 on Saturday with Game 3 on the road next Wednesday. If necessary Game 4 and Game 5 will be on Saturday, August 19 and Sunday, August 20 if necessary. As the No. 4 seed, the Mariners will not have home field advantage in the finals.
The Mariners knocked off the regular season champ Townies with a two-game sweep thanks to a pair of stellar pitching performances.
Zach Abbott got the win in Game 2 going the distance allowing two runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts.
Manchester Essex took control of the game right away building a 4-0 lead after two innings of play. James McKenna singled in Caulin Rogers, who led off the frame with a double, for a 1-0 lead after one. The Mariners tacked on three more in the second with Sachem Ramos' grounder on the infield plating Cory Burnham (walk) for a 2-0 lead. Rusty Tucker knocked in what turned out to be the winning run with a two RBI double plating Rogers and Ramos for a 4-0 Mariners edge.
The Townies got a run back in the fourth when Keady Segel singled in Danny Ryan after Rockport started the inning with three straight singles. Abbott, however, got a pop up and two strikeouts to get out of the jam without further damage.
Rogers singled in Tommy Elliot for the Mariners in the sixth for an insurance run, which almost came in handy as Rockport threatened in the top of the seventh. Three hits in the inning scored pinch runner Michael Murphy to cut the deficit to 5-2 and the Townies put the tying run at the plate after a Jameson Kamm RBI double and a Jack Sperry single. The Mariners, however, got out of the jam after Ramos picked off a runner at first base from his catcher position to end the game.
The Mariners took command of the series by winning a 2-1 nail-biter in Game 1 on Sunday night at Evans Field in Rockport. Tucker went the distance striking out 13 to earn the win while MacKenzie Quinn pitched well for the Townies as well.
