PITCHER’S DUEL
Evan Ash, Andrew Schraa strike out 22 in series opener
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Any baseball manager couldn’t have asked or gotten more out of starting pitcher than both skippers did Thursday night during the District 11/12 Williamsport Division opener of the best-of-three series.
Both right-handers hit the mark, had defenses that kept the game scoreless through the first five innings and even the plate umpire would need to ice his arm as the duo of Saratoga Evan Ash and Rotterdam/Carman’s Andrew Schraa racked up an eye-popping 22 strikeouts.
Saratoga’s Ash, getting the call to face Rotterdam/Carman in the series opener struck out 14 batters Thursday, gave up a hit and walked two batters during his 86-pitch, 5 and 2/3rd inning outing.
Rotterdam/Carman’s Schraa sat down eight Saratoga all-stars, walked one batter and allowed
two hits on the night before both twirlers turned the contest over to their respective bullpens.
Rotterdam struck first against reliever Matt Sgambati, taking an advantage of his adjustment to the strike zone with Schraa walking and A.J. Fasolino reaching on a single that skipped under the glove of the second baseman to keep the inning alive. Spencer Pease was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and put the pressure on the batter with the smallest strike zone, Jaiden Stutzman.
Stutzman pushed the count full and then delivered a two-out single to centerfield that would plate Schraa and Fasolino with the eventual game-winning run to take the bestof-three series opener.
“I was just overwhelmed with everything, I was just trying to get contact and I just saw it go,” Jaiden Stutzman said. “I was just screaming down first base saying ‘Let’s go!’”
Sgambati reset and ended the inning with a strikeout to end the Rotterdam/Carman threat.
Saratoga made the most of its opportunities against the Rotterdam/Carman bullpen when Sgambati reached on a fielder’s choice that eliminated lead-off batter Orion Lansing on a force at second base, the fourth lead runner cut down by the R/C defense to go along with a successful pick-off rundown in the third.
Michael Mack then delivered a one out double to centerfield that scored Sgambati and put more pressure on Rotterdam reliever A.J. Crux.
Taking a page out of Schraa’s successful start, Crux would strike out the final two batters to seal the win.
Relying on his fastball, Schraa went directly at the Saratoga batters.
“There was a lot of pressure. I was a little nervous, it was game one and I was starting,” Andrew Schraa said. “After the first inning it was half and half, they were kind of helping me on some of the pitches.
“I think it has a lot of velocity and it just goes straight which makes it kind of hard to hit.”
Saratoga’s Ash came off a 10-strikeout outing June 30 at Mechanicville and the entire staff was available for the playoff series.
“It came down to Evan, who after the Mechanicville game, he looked really sharp and the two pitchers with the highest strike percentage were the kid was catching (Michael Mack) who is probably our No. 1 generally, although Evan has thrown just as well,” Saratoga manager Marc Delnicki said. What I wanted to do in the first game is do one of the two with the highest strike percentage. I decided to go with Evan, plus, these guys have faced Michael before, the first time we faced them.”
The starting call worked according to plan and Sgambati was the victim of adjusting to a new strike zone on the fly and one sneaky grounder.
“He would have gotten out of the inning, we had a little trouble over there at second base and we had a couple pitches that looked OK, but he should have been out of the inning,” Delnicki said. “It just didn’t work out and then he took a little off that last pitch to make sure that it was a strike and the boy got a good hit and they scored two runs.”
The loss was a different outcome for No. 1 seeded Saratoga, but didn’t deter Delnicki’s outlook for game two 2 p.m. Saturday at Rotterdam/Carman with a plan to force a third winner-take-all contest Monday night back at West Side Rec.
‘I think we are very deep (in pitching) and we have to get it to a third game,” Delnicki said. “Jack Ragle, who came in to close out the game, is an extremely strong pitcher, powerful pitcher and the boy who was catching (Mack) who is a very strong pitcher.
“We didn’t want to lose the game, but I still like our chances very much.”