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By Peter DiGiovanni
pdgiovanni07@gmail.com
@PeteDLNontwitter
WEST CHESTER >> For the first time in 21 years the Red Men captured the West Chester Adult Baseball League championship with a thrilling 3-2 win over defending champion Englunds Apparel, winning the best of five series three-games-to-one Sunday afternoon at Hoopes Park.
Pitcher Zach Camp froze the dangerous Nate Guers with a fastball on the outside corner with the tying run at third base to seal the victory. It was the second day in a row Camp closed out the game for the Red Men (22-10). This one sealed the championship.
“I pitch like four or five days a week at Villanova,” Camp said. “That is sort of my forte. As a reliever I believe you have to be available and be consistent and that is the mindset I go into a game with. The more appearances I make the better I feel. It’s great to win a summer league as competitive as this with a fun group of guys.”
The Red Men jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Englunds (22-9-1) and starter Kyle Guers. Brennan Rozich led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to left field to start the rally. Connor Schilling followed with a sharp single to center to put runners on first and second.
Kyle Lyons advanced the runners with a perfect sacrifice bunt to put men on second and third with one out. Cooper Fiore then followed with an RBI single, scoring Rozich, and it was 1-0. Brendan O’Donnell followed with another RBI single to make it 2-0.
Englunds’ manager Bob Stackhouse replaced Guers with Ethan Giangiluio at that point and Englunds avoided further trouble as Pete Giombetti flied out to deep center field and O’Donnell was caught stealing for the third out of the inning.
Englunds was having no luck against Red Men starter Jason Moore. Moore shut out the potent attack until the top of the fifth inning. After getting the first two outs, Moore plunked Shane Stackhouse with a pitch to put a man on first with two out. Jake Welsch then walked and Englunds had two men on.
At that point Red Men manager Charles Cooper pulled Moore in favor of Nick Cugino, and he was greeted with an RBI single by Mike Douglas. Cugino got out of the jam by striking out Guers for the third out and the Red Men lead was down to 2-1 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning.
“Jason did a great job for us today,” Cooper said. “And he has not pitched that much for us this year but he was very good today. And Nick and Zach both did their jobs and the plan was to use all three of them today and have Zach close it out.”
The Red Men added a very big insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Tyler Harris banged an RBI single to score Landon Rozich, who led off the inning by drawing a walk. It gave the Red Men a 3-1 lead going to the top of the seventh inning.
Englunds, however, did not go down easily in the top of the seventh. Kenny Palmieri led off the inning with a single and went to second when the cutoff throw was misplayed by the Red Men. Shane Stackhouse flied out to Harris in right field for the first out.
Welsch then hit a grounder to second base for the second out with the runner moving to third base with two out. Up stepped the dangerous Douglas who unloaded a towering triple to the base of the center field fence and Englunds was within 3-2 with the tying run on third and two out.
With Douglas on third, Guers worked the count to 3-2, and then Camp struck the Englunds’ clean-up hitter out looking and the Red Men poured out on the field in celebration of their first title since 2002.
“This is a very competitive summer league,” said Red Men first baseman Jared Hoffman. “Everyone wants to win but we also had a lot of fun together. This is a really fun group of guys and we had a blast this summer.”
Cooper was savoring his first championship as manager of the Red Men and he talked about the 2023 champs.
“This was a little different type of team that we have had in the past,” Cooper said. “We were a little more pitching and defense than we have been. But to come out here all summer with this group of guys was really a great experience.
“And to win a league this good is a great feeling.”
Red Men 3, Englunds Apparel 2
Englunds Apparel 000 010 0 — 2
Red Men 002 001 x — 3
3B — Douglas.
WP — Moore. LP — K.Guers.
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