By Rob Potter
JEFFERSONVILLE — April 29, 2003 – The Cornwall Dragons certainly brought their bats with them on Friday.
Cornwall scored at least one run in every inning except the fifth to post an 8-1 win over host Sullivan West in a non-league baseball game.
The Dragons wasted little time in scoring as Pete Gilardo hit a home run in the top of the first. Eric Cortland added an RBI double in the second to give Cornwall a 2-0 lead.
With two outs in the third, Gilardo doubled and Johnathan Irwin followed with a double of his own to make it a 3-0 game.
Cornwall (6-1) added a pair of runs in the fourth inning. With two runners on, Rob Kirshner ripped an RBI double to center field. The next batter, Jesse Gotay, grounded out, but Cortland scored on the play to give the Dragons a 5-0 lead.
SW (2-5) tried to rally in the bottom of the fourth. Bill Nordenhold reached base on a well-placed bunt and James Henry followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs.
The next batter, Matt Berger, grounded out to short, but Nordenhold scored on the throw to first base.
Henry was then thrown out trying to go to third base on the play. Everett Saul reached base on an error, but was thrown out attempting to steal second.
That ended the Bulldogs’ rally as the team couldn’t draw any closer than 5-1.
Cornwall added two runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh to preserve its victory.
“One of our goals is always to score runs and we did that today, scoring in every inning but one,” Cornwall Coach Tito Maisonet said. “We got outstanding pitching from Brandon Von Leuven and Chris Hecht. The defense behind them made the plays they needed to.”
Maisonet also noted that the “fourth inning first and third double play was a key play for us.” He was refering to the aforementioned sequence when the Bulldogs went from having two runners on with no outs to no runners on and two outs.
Von Leuven allowed just three hits over four innings to earn the victory. Hecht gave up three hits and struck out three batters in the final three innings.
While the loss was disappointing for SW Coach Kurt Scheibe, Jr. and his team, it was easier to take than the previous day’s defeat. On Thursday, the Bulldogs traveled to Washingtonville and were pounded by a 22-3 score.
“Overall, we played a lot better today than we did yesterday,” Scheibe said. “The kids came out ready to play today. We made a couple of mental errors and a couple of physical errors, but we certainly played better than we did yesterday.”
Scheibe noted that the loss to Washingtonville was painful in two ways. The first was that the Bulldogs were routed, but more importantly, the team lost Mike Barrett to an injury.
Barrett, a junior, broke his collarbone while diving for a fly ball.
“It’s a big loss for us because Mike is the kind of kid you love to have on your team,” Scheibe said. “Whether he was playing in the game or on the bench, he would give you his best effort. When he wasn’t playing, he would be the first one to go chase a foul ball. He’s an overall good kid who is going to be tough to replace.”
Scheibe added that Barrett, who played several positions, including second base, third base and shortstop, probably will not return to the field this season.