Heritage on the brink of elimination in NABF tournament

By Ted Allen

Published: July 24, 2008

Heritage played the role of gracious host in Thursday’s opening day of the National Amateur Baseball Federation 17-under World Series, committing nine errors in a 12-3 afternoon loss to the Long Island (N.Y.) Astros before leaving 12 runners on base in a 7-2 setback to the Troy (Ohio) Bombers in the nightcap.

The Pioneers appeared not quite ready for big league play in the first game against the Astros, one of five Long Island representatives in the 32-team tournament, who proved to be the more seasoned squad.

“It’s very competitive up in New England,” Astros coach Jeff Rusoff said. “Traditionally, teams in the South have been the strongest, but Long Island baseball has elevated itself in the past 10 years.”

He said his team plays pretty much year-round now.

“More people are into playing travel baseball and most teams also play in fall leagues,” Rusoff said. “We play from early spring until mid-November before going to some winter tournaments in Florida and back to Disney World for a New Year’s Tournament.”

All four of Heritage’s infielders committed errors against Long Island, including three from the shortstop position, while its pitchers walked seven batters and hit another.

“You can’t win with nine errors,” Pioneers coach Jeff Pultz said. “They had nine hits and we had nine errors. That translates into nine more outs and you can’t give a good team four or five outs an inning. They hit the ball well and we didn’t field it. We’ve made those plays all year.”

Center fielder Vinny Carminati tripled to lead off a four-run second and batted 2-for-4 with three runs scored while second baseman Ryan Rusoff was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and three runs scored.

Heritage scored one run in the first when Justin Wirt singled and Astros pitcher P.J. Lenz walked the next three batters with one out, but the Pioneers left the bases loaded without further damage.

They did the same thing in the first and second innings of the second game against Troy, managing just one run, to set the tone from the start.

“The last game, it was errors,” Pultz said. “This game, we had 12 people left on base. We played much better defense, but they got the hits when they needed them and we didn’t.”

He said experience played a factor, with most of Heritage’s players coming from one school and Troy drawing from several in the Dayton, Ohio, area.

“That’s basically an all-star team,” Pultz said. “Those guys have played 40-plus games … and an all-star team’s going to be harder to get those hits against when you need them.”

The Bombers improved to 26-11 on the season with the win and Ryan Hargrove, a crafty southpaw, worked out of a couple of early-inning threats to improve to 4-1.

“That was one of my better outings,” said Hargrove, who threw an effective breaking pitch and used his changeup as his out pitch. “I was keeping them off balance and I threw strikes.”

“He worked out of several jams,” added Pultz, who was much more pleased with his team’s second-game effort. “In the first game, the kids were kind of in awe of who they were playing.”

The Pioneers, who received an automatic berth into the tournament as its host, now appear destined to the consolation bracket of Pool A. They play Salisbury (N.C.) today before entering single-elimination bracket play tonight.