By STEVE SINISKI
The Rams followed up that win by taking a 4-3 decision against Plainedge last Monday to move into the third round where they were scheduled to face third-seeded North Shore last Tuesday.
³He¹s been great the last couple of weeks and he did what we expected,² Rams coach Tom Abruscato said of Stern. Mickey Rogers pitched the final 2 2-3 innings in relief, allowing no hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
After walking the first two Bulldogs¹ batters in the top of the first inning, Stern settled down after a quick conference with Abruscato and catcher Kenny Schmidt. He induced a double-play grounder to shortstop Christian Lavery and struck out cleanup hitter Bennet Polen looking in a five-pitch at bat. Stern retired six consecutive batters before the Bulldogs strung together a two-out rally for a run in the third. He finished his first start allowing just two runs on six hits and three walks, striking out three. He caught Hewlett¹s No. 5 hitter Ari Shamir looking with the bases loaded and two outs in the third.
³It¹s momentum and confidence and that¹s the story of our last three or four games,² Hewlett coach Frank Viggiano said of not pushing a run across in the first. ³When we needed a hit, even a bleeder, we didn¹t get it.²
The Rams scored their first run without a hit in the bottom of the first, as Schmidt was hit by a pitch, stole second and then third, eventually scoring on Bryan Russo¹s sacrifice fly to left. Cleanup hitter Joe Martino then crushed the first pitch he saw from Hewlett pitcher Zach Epstein to right-center that exited the field and very nearly landed in a backyard off the high school property. ³It was a fastball that was supposed to be inside but [Zach] left it over the plate,² Viggiano said.
Epstein made few mistakes after that, preventing Clarke from generating a big inning and giving the Bulldogs every opportunity to stay in the game. ³[Zach] Epstein¹s very good,² Abruscato said. ³We knew coming in he¹s very good. Any game he pitches is a close game, a low-scoring game.²
Aggressive on the basepaths, the Rams turned stolen bases into an art form. They swiped seven bags in all and broke open the game by scoring two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Travis Kakareko drew a one-out walk in the fourth and slid past the tag of shortstop Jon Goodman to steal second. He advanced to third on a groundout by Ryan Schilt, scoring on pinch hitter David Siegel¹s line driver single to center. Siegel, who moved to second on a passed ball, then stole third, came around to score on a double to center by Matt Johns.
In the fifth, Sam Braverman drove in Russo with an RBI double and was awarded home after a Bulldogs¹ error on the relay throw that skipped by the third baseman. Following a two-out walk to Rogers, pinch runner David Mackey swiped second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch to close out the scoring.
³They ran the bases well and capitalized [on opportunities],² Viggiano said.
