By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

WARWICK -- Cumberland Post 14’s quest for home-field advantage in the first round of this weekend’s playoffs got sidetracked on Monday night, no thanks to the hottest team in the state.
Defending state champion Shields Post 43 cruised to its 13th victory in its last 14 contests by parlaying 10 hits (six of them for extra bases) and nine walks into an 11-1 conquest of Post 14 at the Mickey Stevens Complex that was halted in the bottom of the sixth inning by the 10-run mercy rule.

Now 10-8-1, Cumberland ventures into tonight’s regular-season finale against Providence Post 29 at La Salle Academy hoping to nail down a victory that will help them land either the seventh- or eighth-seed in the postseason and a game in the friendly confines of Chet Nichols Field on Friday night in their best-of-three opening-round series.
All of the state’s eight first-round series will kick off on Friday and continue on Saturday, and if any of them require a third and deciding game, it will take place on Sunday.
The best-of-three quarterfinals are expected to run from next Tuesday through Thursday, and the ‘Final Four’ portion of the postseason will begin on Saturday, Aug. 2, at Rhode Island College.
Shields, which faces crosstown rival Hoxsie Cleansers in its regular-season finale tonight, scored all the runs it needed in its opening swings off Cumberland starter Paul Tangherlini, who walked the first batter he faced, issued another free pass with two gone, and gave up a long two-out double into the gap in left-center field by Mike Nadiger.   
The hosts doubled their lead in the second, when with one out and a runner on first, Luis Almonte legged out a triple that went to the fence in left.
Mike Dunphy followed with a long double to center that went over the head, but just out of the reach, of center fielder Matt Sorkin. 

Cumberland’s run came in the third off Shields starting pitcher Mike Moise. Dave Hoey reached on a fielder’s choice grounder, hustled to second on a slow groundout to third by Sorkin, and dashed home on a two-out bloop single to shallow right by Zak Trenteseaux that just dropped behind first baseman Chris Valerio.
Joe Landi then followed with a ground single to right that sent Trenteseaux to third, but Moise escaped further damage by getting Seth Labossiere to fly out to center.
But Shields got that run back in the bottom of the frame when Valerio doubled to right-center, headed to third on a passed ball, and scored on a base hit by Jeremy Ladas that he punched to right past a drawn-in infield.
The hosts then did the rest of their offensive damage off reliever Jeff Buress. They added  three times in the fourth (with one of the runs coming home on a triple to right by Ladas), scored twice in the fifth on a single down the right-field line by Dave Krasnowiecki, and enforced the mercy rule on a long RBI double to left by Ladas.
Moise, who tossed the first four innings, and Krasnowiecki, who went the rest of the way on the hill, teamed up to limit Post 14 to just four base hits, two of them by Trenteseaux.
Post 43, which improved to 14-4, was a night removed from another mercy-rule victory, a 19-6 rout of its other crosstown rival, New England Frozen Lemonade.
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Cumberland Post 14 001 000—0-4-1
Shields Post 43  221 321—11-10-0
Paul Tangherlini, Jeff Buress (4) and Ryan Silva; Michael Moise, Dave Krasnowiecki (5) and Anthony Dupre.