The New Hyde Park 15U Blue Devils capped off a very successful season sweeping the Queens Eagles 3-1 and 19 to 4 to win the 2013 Summer Divisional NJBL Championship, raising the team’s final summer record to an impressive 23-4.
In the Championship series, the Blue Devils followed the strong pitching of their ace, Kyle Cajigas. Cajigas shut down the Eagles, pitching a complete game, giving up one run and striking out 10.
The Blue Devils scored in the bottom of their first. Dylan Savarese doubled and, after Anthony Millan had reached on a fielder’s choice, Mike Greene followed with a walk to put runners on second and third. Cajigas drove in the first run with a ground out and then Niko Rullo drilled a triple to the gap to drive home Greene for an early 2-0 lead.
The Eagles cut the lead in half in the top of the second, but the Blue Devils tacked on an insurance run in the third for the 3-1 margin. Cajigas threw 113 pitches while going the distance, giving up five hits for the one-run win.
In game two, the Blue Devils were the visiting team and jumped all over the Eagles in the top of the first. Savarese set the tone with a lead-off single, then stole second and moved to third on a ground out. Mike Greene then drove a triple to right field to drive in the first run. Kyle Cajigas and Niko Rullo both reached base on errors and Anthony Pomara blasted a three-run home run for an early 4-0 lead.
Mike Thornton was on the mound for the Blue Devils in game two and gave up a run in the Eagles’ half of the first, but maintained the 4-1 lead into the third. The Blue Devils added two more when Millan (two hits, two runs scored) singled and Greene was hit by a pitch, setting up Cajigas’s single to center.
The Blue Devils had a 7-3 lead in the top of the fifth when they put the game out of reach. Savarese (three hits, three runs scored) doubled, Mike Greene ( one hit, three runs scored) walked and Cajigas (three hits, three runs scored, 6 RBIs) singled in two. Pomara (two hits, three runs scored) walked, John Hayes (two hits, two runs scored) singled and Brandon LaFroscia (two hits, run scored) singled and when the inning was over the Blue Devils had added four more runs for an 11-3 lead.
After two quick outs in the sixth, the Blue Devils put together nine hits in a row, Savarese, Millan, Greene, Cajigas, Niko Rullo (one hit, two runs scored), Pomara, Hayes, LaFroscia and Mike Thornton, to score eight runs and take a commanding 19-3 lead going to the bottom of the sixth.
With the final score only a formality, the Eagles scratched one run against Thornton, who pitched masterfully, giving up four runs and four hits and striking out two. The defense was paced by Ray Close, Vincent Balletta and Doug Obidienzo, The game ended fittingly when center fielder Mike Greene made a diving grab in left-center to end the game and seal the 19-4 victory and the championship for the NHP Blue Devils.
NHP Blue Devils 8, Smithtown Bulls 1. The final score was not a true indication how close this game was. Doug Obidienzo pitched in and out of trouble the first four innings, preserving a 2-0 lead. The defense was led by Dylan Savarese and John Hayes, who combined for seven assists and five putouts in the first four innings. Third baseman Mike Thornton made an outstanding play at third and threw a strike to first baseman Liam Gallagher.
The Blue Devils broke the ice in the top in the second when Kyle Cajigas drilled a long triple to the right-center field fence to open the inning. Hayes followed with a sacrifice fly RBI to score Cajigas.
In the fourth, the Blue Devils tacked on one more when Mike Greene doubled and stole third base and the catcher’s throw sailed into left allowing Greene to score easily from third.
Obidienzo was still dealing and ran into trouble in the top of the fifth by loading the bases on walks. During a double switch, Mike Greene came on in relief with the bases loaded and no one out. Greene was greeted with a lined single to right to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 2-1. Greene then took matters into his own hands, fanning the top three hitters in the Bulls’ lineup to keep the score 2-1.
With the momentum clearly in the Blue Devils’ favor, Anthony Pomara started the bottom of the inning with a single and promptly stole second and Matt Gorman delivered a pinch hit off the bench to drive him home. Gorman advanced to second on the throw and another pinch hitter, Brandon LaFroscia, drove a pitch down the right-field line for an RBI double.
The score remained 4-1 until the Blue Devils added cushion in the bottom of the sixth. Anthony Millan walked and stole second, Greene singled in Millan and promptly stole second, Niko Rullo had an RBI ground out, Cajigas doubled, Hayes tripled in another run and Pomara drove in the fourth run of the inning. Mike Greene pitched the last three innings of no-hit relief, striking out seven to advance the Blue Devils to the championship series.
