For a team that has been as solid defensively as Mamaroneck has been all year, the defensive miscues in Saturday’s game were something of an outlier. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it came at the worst possible time, dooming Mamaroneck to a 4-3 loss to RC Ketcham in the Class A finals at Palisades Credit Union Park.
Mamaroneck made three errors, which led to four unearned runs behind starter Bill Flatow on Saturday night, something that Tiger coach Mike Chiapparelli knew could bite the Tigers against an aggressive team like the Indians.
“The game plan was that they are a team you can’t let get on base by making errors and walks,” Chiapparelli said. “It was all about getting those 21 outs.”
The Indians drew first in the bottom of the second inning, taking a 2-0 lead after both a wild pitch and an error led to runs. Ketcham added another run to their lead in the third on a Mamaroneck throwing error, before the Tigers battled back to tie the game scoring three runs in the top of the fourth inning, thanks in part to a two-out, two-run double by Brian Knapp.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, however, Ketcham went on top for good when an RBI ground-out from Steve Merrill plated the winning run.
Flatow struck out five batters in six innings of work, but was tagged with the loss, despite pitching effectively.
“[Flatow] pitched well, he walked the first batter of the game and then he settled down,” said Chiapparelli of his senior hurler. “He did a really good job, but we just didn’t make the plays behind him. If we played better defense, we win the game 3-0.”
With the loss to Ketcham, Mamaroneck’s hopes of repeating as Class AA state champs were dashed, but Chiapparelli was still proud of the way his team battled this year, despite losing several big names that helped guide the program to a state title a year ago.
“[In the last two years] this group has gone 45-7, they’ve won a state title and they’ve really played great baseball against a really grueling schedule,” Chiapparelli said. “Not too many teams could answer the challenges we’ve put in front of them.”
Despite falling short of the sectional title this year, the head coach believes his team is poised to remain in the conversation in 2017. Although the squad will graduate players like Flatow, third baseman Peter Matt and first baseman Brian Knapp, they bring back a number of capable players next year that will likely carry on Mamaroneck’s winning ways.
Second baseman Mark Adamo showed great improvement as the season went on as did catcher Jarret Nachtigal, who got the start behind the plate for Mamaroneck in Saturday’s championship game.
But as always, Mamaroneck will go as far as its pitching takes them.
In Truman Devitt, who posted a 0.82 ERA in 59 innings of work this year, the Tigers have a reliable ace once again.
“Truman had an unbelievable season this year,” Chiapparelli said. “And we have Sachin Nambiar, Andrew Francella, a few kids coming up, so we are going to have some good arms.”
