Bulldogs Break Through in Sunday Split with Bombers

Game One 

Testa Corp (4)-  Ma. Addesa 4-0, O’Flynn 2-0,  Pease 1-0, Klimkiewicz 3-0, Mi. Addesa 3-1, DeMartinis 2-1,  Perry 3-2, Serino 3-2, Roberts 1-0, Gad 2-0, Eruzione 2-0  Totals 26-6 

Reading (6) – Murphy 3-1, Cataldo 4-3, Manzi 3-1,Talis 4-2, Dewing 3-1, Fischer 2-0, B. Flutie 2-1, Gagnon 1-0, Dellorfon 3-0, Totals 25-9 

Doubles – Cataldo, Perry 

WP- Cotoni (3-1)   LP-  Misho  (1-2)

SV-  Kelley (1)

Testa Corp.  0101020      4   6  1

Reading        210300x      6   9  1

Game Two 

Testa Corp (5)-  Ma. Addesa 4-2, Witkowski 3-1,  Klimkiewicz 4-0, Mi. Addesa 4-1, Perry 2-1, Serino 3-0, Gad 2-0, Finkelstein 1-0, Eruzione 3-2,   Totals 26-7 

Reading (3) – Murphy 4-1, Cataldo 4-2, Talis 1-0, Dewing 4-1, Fischer 4-1, Bishop 3-2, Buitkus 3-1, B. Flutie 1-0, Dellorfon 2-1, Totals 26-9 

Doubles – Dewing, Perry, Witkowski 

WP- DiCato   (1-1)  LP-  O’Shea  (1-2)

SV-  Wallace (2)

Testa Corp   1040000       5  7  0

Reading        0011100      3  9  0

Wrap:

On a hot and sunny afternoon at Morton Field the Bulldogs took Game 1 of a doubleheader with the Testa Corp Bombers by a score of 6-4, and then fell in Game 2 in a frustrating manner 5-3 in their bid for a sweep. 

The Bulldogs got the bats going early in Game 1 with four first inning hits and Andrew Dewing’s two out single brought home the first two runs of the game.   

Then, after the Bombers cut the lead in half, Bill Cataldo stroked a double (one of his three hits in the game, and five for the afternoon) and came around to score on Trevor Manzi’s single. 

The lead was cut down to 3-2 on heads up base running from Stan DeMartinis of the Bombers before the Bulldogs increased the cushion with a three-run fourth. In that inning, Zak Talis had the big hit with a two run single. 

Meanwhile Derek Cotoni battled hard on the hill for the Bulldogs, lasting five innings and giving up just three earned runs. From there, closer Nick Kelley shut the door on a Testa rally in the sixth by inducing a shortstop-to-first double play started by Doug Dellorfon as part of his six-out save.

Morrison noted “Nick has a great demeanor to be a closer, he was a good starter at the college level but he is really going to fill a vital role for us that we haven’t had in the past”. 

Game two delivered a tough result for the Bulldogs with several squandered opportunities—including twice failing to score with the bases loaded and no outs and in the final inning leaving the tying runs in scoring position with one out. 

On the afternoon, the Bulldogs hit into three double plays with the bases loaded.

“We haven’t been getting base runners on recently, and we finally did today, but then couldn’t get them home as often as we needed to“ said Coach Matt Morrison. “Still, we had nine hits in each game. So, that’s encouraging”. 

Ben O’Shea took the loss as he had just one tough inning allowing three two-out hits that brought home four runs in the decisive third inning for Testa.

“In his last two starts Ben had that one inning where he couldn’t get that last out," Morrison said. "Both starts could have been wins for him otherwise.”

If the double plays weren’t demoralizing enough, in the fifth inning, Bomber left fielder Vin Eruzione leaped over the left field fence to take a two run home run away from Dewing, knocking the ball down and ultimately preventing the runs from scoring. 

“It was that kind of afternoon for us,” Morrison said. “There [have] been a lot of times this year that we could make the 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' excuse, and the second game was a good example of that, but that doesn’t’ lead to a productive approach or positive attitude so we aren’t going to dwell on the losses in that way." 

On Wednesday night the Bulldogs travel to Lexington to play the first place Blue Sox at 8 p.m., as they reach the half way point in the schedule.