South baseball improves league record, almost beats East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Amherst's Alex Dusenberry awaits a throw and the slide of Iroquois' Stephen Thompson in the Tigers' 9-6 home loss on Friday, May 11. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Two weeks ago, Williamsville South was 3-4 in ECIC Division II. Now they're 7-5. According to coach Dave Delisanti, the difference in the team's play has been confidence and a commitment to performing well defensively and in pitching and hitting.

"We basically said to ourselves, if we're going to compete, we need all three facets to work," said Delisanti. "Last week, the kids were in the cage working on their hitting and made things happen during games. When they were on base, they stole bases and created opportunities to score. Defensively, we went for a stretch of 19 innings where we didn't give up a run and another 28 innings where we allowed only five runs."

South's pitching all season has generally been rock solid. Frank Pieri threw a complete-game three-hitter against West Seneca East with eight strikeouts in South's 6-0 win on May 7. Dan Lynch followed with a complete game six-hitter and struck out 10 in a 9-0 win over Amherst on May 9.

Tom LiSacchi (2 for 4, two RBIs, run scored), Lynch (2 for 3, runs scored), and Andy Esposito (1 for 2, stolen base, two runs scored, RBI) led the South offense against West Seneca East.

Amherst pitcher Andrew Hays kept the Billies off balance through the first three innings before Lynch scored in the third. South added five runs on four hits in the fifth. In the sixth, Pieri doubled home Alex Walkowski and LiSacchi, and a sacrifice fly from P.J. Coppola scored Pieri. Hays wound up with the loss.

Defensively, the Billies were great, said Delisanti.

"We made all of the routine plays, and Lynch kept them off balance, averaging two strikeouts an inning," said Delisanti.

Amherst coach Brian Davis felt the turning point of the game occurred in the top of the fifth. Tom Ponticelli walked and moved to second on a passed ball, then Hays, Mike Yanity and Geoff Gallson struck out looking.

In the seventh, Shaun Garus, Yanity and Gallson had consecutive singles with two outs for Amherst, but Alex Dusenberry flew out to second to end the game.

Amherst's Will Gowen was 2 for 2 with a single and double. Amherst had beaten South 6-4 earlier in the season.

The Billies had to come back to beat Lake Shore 7-5 on Thursday. Trailing 5-2 after four innings, South scored five runs with two outs in the fifth to pick up the win. Walkowski was 2 for 3 with an RBI and run scored. Lynch was 2 for 3 with two runs scored.

South played Williamsville East tough for five innings at the Pepsi Center on Friday but fell 5-4. The win clinched the ECIC II title for the Flames (8-3).

South led 1-0 after the first after Pieri singled in LiSacchi. East tied the score in the game when Mark Guenther scored on a Zack Miller safety squeeze.

South took a 4-1 lead in the third on singles by Pieri, Hurley and Lynch. East pitcher Josh Dimarco entered the game and set South down for most of the rest of the game. Dimarco threw 4.1 innings and spaced three hits, gave up no runs, and earned the win.

Trailing 4-2, East scored three runs in the sixth. Eric Charlton led off with a single, and Chris Schiumo followed with a double, putting runners on second and third. Gary Styn hit a two-run double to tie the score at 4-4 and would score on a wild pitch.

South had runners on first and second but East converted a double play to end the threat.

"We basically controlled the game until the sixth inning, but their bottom of the order came up big for them," said Delisanti.

Pieri hit 3 for 4 with two RBIs and threw a complete game on the mound, allowing five runs, two earned runs, and struck out two. LiSacchi (2 for 3), Scott Steimer (2 for 4), Hurley (2 for 4, RBI), Lynch (2 for 3, RBI) and Greg Reed (2 for 3) also hit for South.

South played Sweet Home on Monday, but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Billies play at Maryvale at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 16 and host Williamsville North at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, May 17.

Amherst Central

The Tigers dropped their other two games last week as well, falling 7-3 at Newfane on May 7, a team Davis felt his team could have beaten, and Iroquois, 9-6, at home on Friday.

Down 7-1 against Newfane, the Tigers scored two runs in the seventh. Nine different Tigers hit. Gowen, Andrew Gibson, and Zach Willet each hit 1 for 2 with an RBI.

Yanity pitched five innings and allowed six runs, four earned runs, six hits and stuck out four. Russell Zolonowski allowed one run on one hit.

Zolonowski started and recorded the loss versus Iroquois.

Dusenberry (3 for 4, run scored) and Derek Duke led off the first with singles, and each scored for two Amherst runs.

Down 3-2, the Tigers tied the game in the third when Gowen scored on a Chris Eyeington ground out to second base. Gowen and Eyeington scored on passed balls in the fifth, and Alex Kuttesch scored from a Brandon Jeffords base hit in the sixth. In the seventh, Eyeington and Garus struck out looking and Gibson struck out swinging to end the game.

Amherst (3-11, 3-8) played Lake Shore on Tuesday, but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Depew on Wednesday, May 16 and travel to Kenmore West on Friday, May 18. Both games are 4:30 p.m. starts. Amherst plays at Alden at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 19. Amherst closes out the regular season with nonleague games next week against West Seneca West, Niagara-Wheatfield and Alden.

"It's been frustrating," said Davis. "I thought we'd be better than what we are right now. When we have the pitching and defense, we don't hit. When we do hit, we make a lot of errors. When we're not making errors but hitting, then our pitching gets touched up."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com