With a bit of revenge, East Greenwich gets a shot at D-II baseball title
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MIDDLETOWN – East Greenwich will make a fourth straight trip to the Division II baseball title series thanks to a successful second chance against Middletown.
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The Avengers needed another game to close out the Islanders in Pod 1 after suffering a shutout defeat Sunday. They capitalized on the benefit that comes with remaining in the winner’s bracket of a double-elimination field, punching another ticket on a sunny Monday afternoon at Gaudet Field.
Anders Nelson found enough escapes from some early jams and his offense backed him on the second turn through the order. Brady O’Brien delivered an RBI single in an early rally and Walker Klika opened it up with a two-run single in the top of the sixth inning, paving the way to an 8-5 triumph.
Nelson worked into the sixth inning while striking out eight and stranding six – all but one of those in scoring position. O’Brien reached safely three times and Klika drove home three runs as East Greenwich buried the 3-0 blanking they absorbed at home the previous day courtesy of Cam Carlisle. West Warwick awaits in a regional rivalry matchup, with the best-of-three series at Rhode Island College opening later this week.
“Obviously a little disappointed yesterday that we couldn’t get the job done,” O’Brien said. “A lot of emotions involved. But we knew we had the talent to come out here and win.”
An infield error leading off the top of the third invited the Avengers to take control. Van Martin singled to left, Caiden Souza beat out an infield single to shortstop and O’Brien sat on the same curveball from Evan Agren that struck him out in his first at-bat. He ripped one through the left side for a base hit that made it 1-0.
“First at-bat he froze me on a pretty good curve, so I knew he was going to try it again first pitch,” O’Brien said. “I put a good swing on it.”
Miles Doman’s fielder’s choice and Klika’s sacrifice fly to right gave Nelson a working margin, and the right-hander made the most of it while scattering four hits. A balk moved runners to second and third in the bottom of the first, but Nelson fanned the next two men to keep the game scoreless. It was more of the same in the bottom of the fourth, as Nelson recorded a swinging strikeout to leave the bases loaded in a 4-0 game.
“That’s a real good team,” Nelson said. “They can hit the ball well. They had long, tough at-bats – they stayed in. We just showed our grit.”
A throwing error on Garrett West’s steal of third put the Islanders on the board in the fifth, and Colton Kerrison floated an RBI single to left-center that cut the Avenger lead in half to 4-2. Nelson induced a towering foul pop to Klika wide of third base to keep it there and Zahedi induced a fielder’s choice to record a clean bottom of the sixth after Nelson walked leadoff man Junyi Zhang.
“(Nelson is) our ace – he's our guy,” O’Brien said. “We have 100% confidence in him. We just had to get the bats going and get them going early, which we did.”
Zhang’s run-scoring single and infield outs by Noah Travers and Kyle Keefe helped Middletown (16-7) tighten the margin in the bottom of the seventh. Zahedi allowed the first four men to reach safely before steadying himself, collecting three straight groundballs to finish it. Klika threw accurately across the diamond on the last one to push East Greenwich (17-4-1) back to the title round.
“Last year we started slow and we got there,” O’Brien said. “We knew we were only getting better this year. We were adding a couple guys and guys were growing and developing.”
West Warwick (18-4) stormed through Pod 2 with three straight wins, including an 8-1 clincher against defending champion North Providence. The Wizards haven’t lost to an opponent from the division since a 3-2 defeat against Johnston on April 28, and their lone meeting with the Avengers eight days earlier brought a 5-3 setback on the road.
“They’re a good team,” Nelson said. “We already played them earlier in the season – we showed that we’re better. We’re going to come out there and give it to them.
“We’re going to keep our consistent mentality – pitch by pitch. We’re going to be our team.”
East Greenwich 003 104 0 – 8 7 2
Middletown 000 020 3 – 5 8 2
Anders Nelson, Keyan Zahedi (6) and Brady O’Brien. Evan Agren, Colton Kerrison (4), Kenny Pirches (6) and Kyle Keefe.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: East Greenwich defeats Middletown in D-II baseball playoffs