By ERIC KNOPSNYDER
The Tribune-Democrat
August 12, 2008 12:19 am
—
Philadelphia didn’t have history on its side in Monday’s AAABA Tournament game with New Orleans, but manager Brian Kraus had Christopher Dolan and Matt Moceri.
That proved to be enough, as the two right-handers combined to shut out New Orleans for 10 innings as Philadelphia won 2-0 at Roxbury Park.
“This is the first time in 15 years that we beat this team,” said Kraus, who played on a team that lost to New Orleans just a few years ago. “On the first day, it’s huge. Now we move on and play (Brooklyn) which is the next obstacle for us.”
Dolan allowed five hits and walked three while striking out 10 before being lifted with one out in the ninth. Moceri left two runners on base in the ninth and two more in the 10th.
In between, Philadelphia got two runs off New Orleans starter Matt Brown. Frank Mercuri hit a ball off the fence in right in the 10th but stopped at first. Ryan Murphy tried to bunt Mercuri over to second, but third baseman Brett Palermo’s throwing error – his second of the game – put runners on second and third with one out.
“Brett’s made a ton of big plays,” Brown said. “You can’t ask for a better defense behind you.”
Philadelphia designated hitter Ryan Kreider ripped a base hit through the drawn-in defense to make it 1-0. The ball actually ticked off of Brown’s glove, but he wasn’t able to get enough of it to stop it.
“It’s a game of inches,” Brown said. “You win or lose by an inch. And we lost by an inch.”
Kreider didn’t think it was a hit off the bat.
“I thought he caught it, actually,” Kreider said.
Philadelphia added an insurance run despite a base-running miscue. Mike Villari, who pinch ran for Kreider at first, was caught stealing, but Murphy came home with the second run of the game.
“We made a huge base-running mistake when we took off early there, but their first baseman got spun around, so we were able to push the second run across,” Kraus said.
Moceri got the first out in the bottom of the 10th before New Orleans threatened. No. 9 hitter Kyle Olasin dropped a bunt single down the third-base line for his fourth hit of the day – more than the rest of the team combined – and Cass Hargis followed with a single to center. Olasin stole third and Hargis got into scoring position on Moceri’s strikeout of Mike Liberto, but Chandler Laurent flew out to center field to end the game.
As good as Dolan was, Brown was even better for much of the game. The New Orleans starter was perfect through four innings and didn’t allow a hit until Jordan Fisher’s bunt single in the sixth.
Philadelphia didn’t get a ball out of the infield until Charles Kelly doubled in the seventh.
Brown’s command was spectacular, as he threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 28 hitters he faced through nine innings. He struck out 11 while walking one and giving up the two unearned runs on five hits. Despite pitching 10 innings, he only threw 99 pitches.
“We know with him that he’s going to get out and pound the zone,” New Orleans manager Brady Benoit said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t back him up (Monday).”
Philadelphia faces Brooklyn today while New Orleans plays Buffalo in an elimination game.
“We’re certainly not going to hang our heads,” Benoit said. “Not the start that we wanted to get, but I tip my hat to them. Their pitchers did an outstanding job keeping us off balance all day.”
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