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D 1-North Baseball: Too close to call |
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Tuesday, 12 May 2009 |
By BRENDAN McGAIR
Muddled. Jumbled. Congested. Bunched together. Or how about joined at the hip? Welcome to life in Division I-North baseball.
There’s less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. At this point, it’s normal to have a solid grasp on who’s a contender and who can be discarded off to the side. Not so in, as Lincoln High skipper Ed Hunt coined, “the Black-and-Blue division.”
What we have on our hands is a MLB-esque pennant race that in all likelihood will require every out teams can squeeze in during this two-week time frame.
That’s how little separation there is.
While we wait for the results to come back from the dark room, let’s peruse the standings. At 8-5, Smithfield is in the first pole position, mere percentage points of La Salle (8-6). St. Raphael (7-6) has third place all to itself, but breathing down the Saints’ neck is a trio of ball clubs – Cumberland, Lincoln and Woonsocket – at 6-7. North Providence brings up the rear at 5-8, though the Cougars certainly can’t be counted out. Not in this division, not when three games separates the top from the bottom.
You would have better luck handicapping next weekend’s Preakness Stakes than trying to decipher the D-I North chase. There’s no trail of breadcrumbs, a la Hansel and Gretel, to follow, which the first 5 ½ weeks tells us.
SRA swept the season series from La Salle, last spring’s state runner-up, on its way to a 6-2 start. The Saints have cooled off in recent weeks, winning just once in their last five tries. The club generating all the buzz is Lincoln, which was perceived all but dead a few weeks back.
The Lions got off to a dreadful 1-6 start, giving the impression that May would be a long month for Hunt & Co. Not so, for Lincoln is right in thick of the division hunt, a byproduct of a four-game winning streak that will be on the line tomorrow night against Cumberland.
Speaking of the Clippers, Paul Murphy’s crew can’t be overlooked thanks to an explosive offense that averages nearly six runs per. The Sentinels’ most notable trait is winning tight affairs (4-1 in games decided in three runs or less). The Villa Novans have a golden chance to bolster their hopes since all five remaining games are against division rivals.
As much as D-I North mad-dash-to-the-finish-line makes for great theater, it also allows the combatants to maintain sharpness heading into the playoffs. The other three divisions in the state each have two clubs boasting 10 of more wins. That may look good on paper, but those records, as stellar as they appear, stem from loading up on bottom feeders (each division not named D-I North has two teams with nine or more losses).
“Some people might be slighted by this, but I think we play in the toughest division in the state,” Hunt said last week. “There’s good baseball, any team can beat anyone on any given day.”
It’s quite possible all seven D-I North members will qualify for the state tournament, which invites 24 teams (just four teams miss out) and spreads them out over four regions. That’s the only thing that appears certain in a division that’s been darn near impossible to get a handle on.
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Lincoln’s Kyle Borden enjoyed a stellar weekend in guiding the CCRI diamonders to the Region XXI Baseball Championship. Named MVP, Borden wielded a big stick in the two-game sweep of UCAP, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and four RBI in the first contest.
UCAP chose to pitch around Borden in the second game, but that didn’t stop the ex-Lion from being a factor. He finished 1-for-2 with a RBI, two runs and two walks.
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We’ll stay in Lincoln, where Chris Costantino is making a name for himself at Bishop Hendricken. The burly senior (he’s listed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds) has caught the attention of the pro scouts, opening the door ever so slightly that he could be taken in next month’s First-Year Player Draft.
“Probably 10-15 different teams,” said Costantino when asked how many MLB clubs have taken a flyer on him. “(The scouts) really can’t say much right now.”
Costantino was originally ticketed to play baseball at Marshall (W.V.) University but instead will take his talents to Walter State (Tenn.) Community College. He’s excelled as a pitcher (he struck out 14 Clippers in six innings April 20) and a hitter (he flexed his muscles on a blast that nearly traveled out of Vets Park April 24).
“I know you can drafted after your first year,” said Costantino, a First Team All-Stater a year ago, about why he opted for the JUCO route.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 May 2009 )
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