Islanders Top Rebels in Seventh

Much has been made about the amount of parody this season in Division-I baseball, and Wednesday’s contest between South Kingstown and high schools did not veer from the trend.

After the Rebels took two from the Islanders during the regular season, Middletown got its revenge with a 4-3 victory over South Kingstown in the first round of the D-I playoffs.

“I’ve never been in a game with this much at stake,” Middletown sophomore Mark Powell said. “We lost to them twice in the regular season, but we came out hard, we had our ace on the mound and had a real good shot at winning.”

Given the double elimination format of the preliminary rounds of the playoffs, winning the first game becomes crucial.

“You’ve got to win the first game, especially for teams like us since we’re not as deep as some of the bigger teams,” Middletown head coach Eric Godin said.  “We’ve got Armand [Rugel] as our number one, and you’ve got win with him on the mound.”

Rugel threw a complete game for the Islanders striking out six South Kingstown batters, allowing three runs on five hits.

“He pitched great, he’s been on the mound for us since his sophomore year and I think I said to the guys during the fifth inning that this is the best that I’ve ever seen him throw,” Godin said.

Junior Matt Sullivan, pinch-running after senior Cameron Eggeman drew a leadoff walk, was able to score the winning run for the Islanders off an error in a first-and-third situation. 

After clubbing his fourth single of the game, sophomore Justin Sellar took off from first in an attempt to steal second base.

“I’ve just been working outside of practice on my swing, because I’ve been struggling a lot in the early part of the season, but today with four hits, I mean I guess it speaks for itself,” Sellar said. 

Not all of the Rebels were on the same page in terms of what play was called, and subsequently catcher Phil Matteson’s throw to second sailed into center field allowing Sullivan to score the go-ahead run.

The Rebels were unable to come up with answer in the bottom half of the inning, suffering the loss after leading nearly the entire game.

South Kingstown took a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the third inning when senior Harrison Barlow and junior Sean Healy scored on a double from junior T.J. Lynch.

The Rebels maintained their advantage into the fifth inning until the Islanders cut it in half when Powell scored on a single from Flynn.

Middletown was able to get its first lead in the following inning, with junior Kevin Nash and Sellar scoring the tying and go-ahead runs, respectively. 

The Islanders' big break in the sixth came with runners on first and second with one out, when senior Joe Sanfilippo hit a weak pop fly to first, but first baseman Connor Barrett and second baseman Ryan Sweenor bumped into each other and allowed the ball to drop. 

“We’ve been playing great defense, and today we didn’t,” South Kingstown head coach Jim Sauro said. 

Powell followed with a single to plate Nash, and Sellar scored the unearned run after senior Dylan Gracia drew a walk.

Healy was able to get out of the one-out, bases loaded situation without giving up anymore runs, but the damage had already been done.

The Rebels were able to get one back in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a leadoff double from Sweenor, but after loading the bases they were unable to get another run across the plate.

Sellar led the Islanders offensively with four hits on the day, while starting pitcher [insert name] kept the Rebel hitter off balance all day.

Jeremy Swan threw well for the Rebels, allowing just one run on four hits through five innings pitched, but was plagued by a high pitch count by a high pitch count and gave way to Healy in the sixth.

“He was leaving the ball up in the inning before, he walked a few batters as well, he was right around 90 pitches so we wanted to give them a different look with the righty,” Sauro said.  “Sean’s been coming in relief all year doing a good job, but we got behind some batters and walked some leadoff hitters.”

Next Up for the Islanders

As a reward the Islanders will face perennial power Bishop Hendricken Thursday at 4 p.m. at Hendricken.

“We have our number two Jake Murray going, he’s a good pitcher, but totally different from Armand,” Godin said.  “He beat North Kingstown, he beat Pilgrim, and so we’re confident.”

South Kingstown now moves to the consolation bracket where they will face Toll Gate High Thursday at 4 p.m.  at Old Mountain Field.

“They either want to extend the season or they don’t, we’re going to go right after Toll Gate or Hendricken and we’ll show up tomorrow,” Sauro said.