Spartans shut out Bruins in playoff game
Senior Vincent Iacone catches a pop up, coming off the mound, to record the second out in the top of the second inning. The Lakewood Spartans defeated the visiting Bayshore Bruins 6-0 on Tuesday night (4/21), off of Spartans 13 total hits and Iacone's 3 hit shutout, advancing to the District Championship where the number two seed Spartans will square off against the number one seed Boca Ciega Pirates on Friday at Boca Ciega High School. (TONY RENGIFO | SNN)
By TONY RENGIFO
SNN Staff Writer
Lakewood High pitcher Vince Iacone, a senior, shut down the Bruins in a complete game, allowing only three hits, backed up by 13 hits from the Spartans’ offense.
Starting the first inning the Spartans scored three runs. Junior Mauro Conde hit an RBI single to left field to drive in senior Jamaal Chaney to score the first run of the game. Junior Marcus Bradley followed Conde with an RBI single of his own, driving in senior Donovan Pink, a 2-0 score now. Junior Sonny Newman followed Bradley and Conde, hitting an RBI single, a third straight exact sequence, expanding the lead to 3-0.
In the top of the second Pink made a spectacular play making a back-handed grab at shortstop and throwing to first to get the runner out.
Art teacher Larry West, announcer for the game, proclaimed to the crowd, “Now that was a big league play by Donovan Pink!”
“I was trying to be like Andrelton Simmons, the Atlanta Braves shortstop,” Pink said later.
In the bottom of the third, Iacone drove in Conde from second base with a base hit.
“It was a 3-1 count. A low pitch, I took it to right field. I almost fell out of the box so I’m glad it went through,” Iacone said.
Robles scored first in the bottom of the fourth. Then Conde drove in Chaney from third with an RBI single to the outfield. With Conde at first, Bradley hit a double to deep center. Conde tried to score but was tagged out at the plate. This was one of four big base running mistakes.
In the bottom of the sixth Chaney drove in Robles from first with a double but was tagged out trying to stretch it into a triple.
A groundout to shortstop ended the game. Iacone threw a complete game shut out, allowing only three hits.
The Spartans defense was praised for solidness by coach Jayce Ganchou and Iacone after the game.
“It’s exactly what I want to see when I’m on the mound. It’s just great,” Iacone said. “I was really pumped when Pink made that behind-the-glove play.”
“He practices that in practice. So he knew what he was doing,” Ganchou said. “I was mostly happy with the defense up the middle. Vinny and Pink made nice plays. They were stellar.” Junior Vinny Grybauskas and Pink collected a combined 10 or 11 groundouts and all their plays were made.
Pink was also caught trying to stretch a single into a double earlier in the game as well as Iacone getting picked up after not tagging up.
“Mauro didn’t realize there was two outs. Pink got caught trying to be a little too aggressive. Pink could’ve drove in Chaney from second with a hit. Just costly base runner errors,” Ganchou said. He also said the base-running errors were associated with the Spartans not scoring more runs than they could have, saying they let up a bit after getting an early lead.
The win means the Spartans pulled back to .500, with a 13-13 record now.
On Friday they are scheduled as the number 2 seed to face off against the number 1 seed Boca Ciega Pirates in the district championship.
“Solid defense, good hitting, and getting ahead early or staying with them the whole game is what we need to do,” Ganchou said.