On a day where 49 baserunners touched home plate and fifteen balls left Rogers Park, Danbury outslugged North Adams and swept Thursday’s doubleheader.
Danbury (20-21) has won eight of their last eleven contests, and they finished the regular season with a 7-1 record against North Adams (10-32). The Westerners trailed by at least five runs in both games, but the bats smashed eleven combined home runs to bounce back and put themselves in the win column. Excluding the pitchers, all eleven starters recorded at least a hit, and there were nine multi-hit performances during the doubleheader.
“Today’s wins show the great character of this ballclub,” Coach Ratchford said after both wins. “It was a great day, but we’ve got to take it one day at a time and play well again tomorrow.”
Hank Thomas and Korey Morton put on an offensive clinic in tonight’s contests. The two sluggers crushed three home runs each and finished with 5-9 nights at the plate. Thomas tallied a season-high 6 RBIs in Game 1 and finished with 8 RBIs on the day, and Morton ended the doubleheader with 6 RBIs of his own. To cap off all these eye-popping numbers, Morton proved to be this season’s Steeplecats’ killer because he went 13-25 with 4 home runs and 13 RBIs against this ballclub.
“We were just having fun out there,” Morton said after Game 2. “I ate Nutella before the games, so that probably helped too.”
After his three-home run performance, Thomas leads the team with 8 home runs and 32 RBIs. The Westerners’ first baseman was a member of last year’s championship team, so it is crucial for him to be playing well as they are fighting for their playoff lives.
“We also knew that we were never out of it,” Thomas added during the postgame interview. “We were swinging the bats well, so we stayed confident and knew what needed to be done to keep our playoff hopes alive.”
Billy Gerlott was hot at the plate by going 5-6 with a home run, 2 RBIs, and two runs scored. The Westerners’ right fielder also played a solid right field and did not allow the Steeplecats to take extra bases on him. Sam Mongelli’s sixteen-game hitting streak was snapped in Game 1, but his on-base streak reached eighteen games after walking twice in Game 1 and recording two hits in Game 2.
The Steeplecats slugged four home runs during the doubleheader, but their pitching could not contain the Westerners’ lineup. Ryan Magdic went 4-6 with three doubles and 3 RBIs, and Cedric Rose continued his excellent 2022 campaign by going 3-6 with an RBI and four runs scored.
Game 1 was a seesaw match between these West Division rivals, but Danbury outslugged North Adams in a 13-11 victory. The Westerners belted five home runs in this contest, and two traveled over 400 feet. The Westerners faced a 5-1 deficit in the third, but they fought back with a three-spot in the bottom half of the frame. Morton crushed a solo shot over the left-field fence to lead off the inning, and after the next batter was retired, the Westerners loaded the bases for second baseman Mike Becchetti. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Becchetti laced a two-run single into left field to make it a one-run ballgame.
Despite this momentum shift, North Adams recovered and made it a 9-4 ballgame in the blink of an eye. After a leadoff walk, Trey Ciulla-Hall smashed a two-run home run into dead center to give his team a three-run lead. The next two batters reached on infield singles, and Ryan Galanie put Danbury in a five-run hole by yanking a two-run double down the right-field line.
North Adams’ attempt to deflate their opponent failed because this Westerners’ lineup remained confident and clawed their way back into the game. Morton kicked things off with another round-tripper over the left-field wall, and after a Sam Mongelli walk, Hank Thomas launched a two-run blast over the high right-field wall to put his team down by two. Back-to-back doubles followed this long ball, which granted Danbury their eighth run of the contest and pulled them within one.
“I was hunting a pitch up in the zone,” Thomas said after Game 1. “I got a pitch I wanted, and I didn’t miss it.”
North Adams inched closer with two runs in the sixth, but Billy Gerlott provided some insurance with a 412-foot moonshot over the center-field wall. Gerlott’s solo shot was a no-doubter off the bat, and it extended his team’s lead to 13-11. The Steeplecats started the seventh inning with a double down the right-field line, but Carter Heller retired the last three batters to complete the epic comeback victory.
Even after this impressive comeback victory, the Westerners outdid themselves in Game 2. They were trailing 7-0 in the bottom of the third, but the bats erupted for fourteen runs in the next two innings. Nick Romano joined the home run party with a three-run blast in the third, and his ballclub hung up an eleven-spot in the bottom of the fourth. The Westerners sent fourteen batters to the plate in this inning, hit four home runs and recorded nine hits.
Joey Skarad started the scoring extravaganza with a towering solo shot over the left-center field wall, and the floodgates opened from there. Jackson Taylor followed with a base hit, and Morton launched his third home run of the game to left field to make it a 7-6 ballgame. After Sam Mongelli doubled two batters later, Hank Thomas came through in the clutch yet again with a go-ahead two-run blast that snuck over the left-field fence. Skarad tallied his second RBI of the inning with his first base hit of the night, and Morton recorded two more RBIs in the frame on a single through the left side of the infield. To put a bow on this incredible inning, Mike Becchetti launched his third round-tripper of the summer over the left-center field wall to give his team a comfortable 14-7 advantage.
Skarad homered again in the sixth to make it 16-7, and the Westerners would win the game by a final score of 16-9. Vincent Bianchi (1-2) earned his first win of the summer by surrendering two runs over 2.2 innings, and Ashton Johnson (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing eight runs in the fourth inning. Sam Majewski (2-1) claimed the victory in Game 1, and Ben Chrzanowski (0-1) lost for the first time this summer after surrendering a game-winning grand slam to Hank Thomas.
The Westerners took care of business on Thursday and received help from other teams to gain ground in the NECBL Standings. The North Shore Navigators defeated the Ocean State Waves 5-2, so Danbury now trails the Waves by a 0.5 game for the no. 6 seed and has three games left to claim this final playoff spot. On Friday night, the boys of the Hat City will travel to Mackenzie Stadium and face off against the Valley Blue Sox for the final time this summer. Zach Grace (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will take the hill for his ballclub, and Damon Wesley (0-0, 4.76 ERA) will face the Westerners’ lineup for the third time this summer. In 9.0 shutout innings pitched against the Blue Sox, Grace has fanned sixteen batters and only walked three, so he will look to continue this domination on Friday. The first pitch will be fired at 7:05 PM ET, so tune in to the NECBL Broadcast Network and hear Kyle DeSantis on the call.