Hard-hitting Trojans headed for a
divisional collision with rival Warriors
The Garden City baseball team has been on top of their game all season but their dominance over Conference rival Jericho put the league on notice – these boys can play. Manager Rich Smith has the team playing solid defense to support a strong pitching staff while the bats have been consistent all season. For the season GC has averaged a little more than 8 runs a game while the pitching staff has given up less than 3 runs per seven innings.
A strong indication of how the Trojans have performed was the three game sweep of Jericho. GC outscored the Jayhawks 37-12 in the three game series as Cory Fallon delivered the winning performance in the series finale, while David Butler and Kyle Ritchie won the first two games. The Garden City pitching staff has been excellent this season with lefty Brian LoRusso and Alex Ostermann supporting the starting three with timely contributions.
The Garden City bats were on fire for the Jericho series with Fallon, John Cauchi, Kyle Ritchie, Matteo Lattanzio, Andrew Lobasso and TJ Pallon delivering key hits against the Jericho staff. Throughout the season the Trojans have mixed in the right amount of power, timely hitting and a little small ball to help produce their 13-2 record.
Several dads said in their usual spot behind home plate that it seems that the boys can handle any of the hard throwers that a team like Jericho throws at them, but they appear to have trouble hitting a pitcher with a quirky windup, throws more off speed ‘stuff’ or who is a little erratic in the strike zone.
Garden City did hit a bump in the series opener against New Hyde Park as they lost a heartbreaker 4-3 to end their 12-game winning streak. The Trojans managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh but could not push across the tying run. But the boys did come back with an 11-2 bounce back home victory in the second game of the series behind the strong pitching of David Butler.
As the boys of summer come down the homestretch of the schedule towards the playoffs it looks like they will have to be prepared to face strong competition against conference rival and division leader Wantagh. The Warriors sit atop Conference A-1 and have won 14 straight games this season to remain undefeated in league play.
