Seventh inning grand slam sends Rangers to 5-1 loss

CUMBERLAND — The Greely baseball team suffered its first dose of adversity Monday afternoon.

After being unable hold an early 1-0 lead, the Rangers dropped their first game of the 2009 season when Cape Elizabeth junior Kyle Piscopo cranked a seventh inning grand slam that led the Capers to a 5-1 victory.

“We had some opportunities, but couldn’t execute,” lamented Greely coach Derek Soule. “It’s only game eight.”

Rivalry renewed

Cape Elizabeth and Greely are longtime adversaries who have enjoyed great success in recent years. The Capers won the 2004 Class B championship and made a stunning run to the state game a year ago before losing to Gardiner. The Rangers won the 2007 state title and were upset by Yarmouth in the quarterfinals last season.

Prior to Monday, Greely hadn’t been seriously tested in 2009. A 5-0 home win over Poland last Wednesday left the Rangers 7-0. They outscored the opposition 66-21 during that span.

Cape Elizabeth, the preseason favorite, lost 6-4 in its second game, but took a five-game win streak into the showdown.

Last year, the teams split with each winning on the road.

Monday, the Capers celebrated on Greely’s field again.

Rangers senior Sam Stauber and Cape Elizabeth senior Andrew Guay both set the opposition down in order in the first.

The Capers had a great chance to get the jump in the top of the second when sophomore designated hitter Robert MacDonald, junior first baseman Will Pierce and junior leftfielder Conor Moloney all singled with no outs. Stauber then came to life and struck out three in a row to keep the game scoreless.

Senior first baseman Pat Copp then crushed the first pitch of the bottom of the inning deep over the left-centerfield fence to put Greely ahead 1-0. Senior third baseman Kevin Hart reached on an infield hit, stole second and moved to third on a fly out, but Guay escaped further trouble with a strikeout and a lineout.

“I wasn’t too worried about (the home run),” Guay said. “It was only one run. I wanted to keep my head on straight and throw strikes.”

After both teams went 1-2-3 in the third, the threats resumed in the fourth.

In the top half, Pierce singled with one out, but advanced no further. In the bottom of the inning, senior centerfielder Nate Martin walked to start the frame, stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Guay again escaped, fanning Copp, getting Hart to pop out to shortstop (after a failed squeeze bunt) and inducing senior catcher Ryan Howland to pop up to catcher.

The Capers drew even in the top of the fifth. Junior catcher Ezra Wolfinger doubled to left-center to lead off as Martin dove to no avail. Wolfinger moved up on a wild pitch, then scored when junior third baseman Tanner Garrity singled under senior second baseman Leo Paquette’s glove.

After Greely went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth and Cape Elizabeth did the same in the top half of the sixth, the Rangers threatened to go back ahead in the bottom of the sixth.

With two out, Martin beat out a bunt. Copp then ripped a hit to left-center, but senior centerfielder Zach Breed cut it off and forced Martin to hold at third. Hart then hit a slow grounder to third, but Garrity delivered a strong throw just in time to keep the game tied.

The Capers then seized control in the seventh.

Senior rightfielder Ryan Boyington led off by singling to right-center. Wolfinger then hit a ground ball that Stauber got a piece of and Paquette couldn’t handle. Garrity tried to sacrifice, but Copp pounced on the ball and fired to third where Hart made a sensational diving save of the errant throw while keeping his foot on the bag for the first out. A wild pitch moved the runners up, however, and Stauber walked Breed intentionally to set up a duel with Piscopo.

On the fifth pitch, Piscopo was declared the winner, launching a drive to left-center that Martin could only watch sail out of play for a 5-1 Cape Elizabeth lead.

“It was my first high school home run,” Piscopo said. “I was looking for a base hit or a deep fly to get one run in. The pitch was middle-in. It didn’t feel that great off the bat, but it carried.”

“I thought he hit it better (in the top of the fifth) when Martin ran it down,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Chris Hayward. “Hitting it where Martin can’t catch it was a good thing.”

“Sam pitches well with men on base,” Soule said. “He usually takes his game to another level. Unfortunately, he got a little tired and left a changeup up in the zone that was supposed to be in the dirt.”

Guay quickly slammed the door in the bottom half, getting junior leftfielder Luke Booth to ground out to second base to end it.

“It really was a great win for us,” said Guay (seven innings, one run, four hits, one walk, seven strikeouts on just 74 pitches). “We always look forward to playing Greely. They were undefeated. We wanted to win really bad. We got a lot of men on base and stranded them. We knew sooner or later we’d put some runs across.”

Stauber (111 pitches) allowed five runs on nine hits. He walked one, had two wild pitches and struck out eight hitters. Offensively, the Rangers were paced by Copp’s two hits. Pierce and Wolfinger both had two hits for the Capers.

Greely hoped to get back in the win column Tuesday when it hosted Falmouth (too late for print). The Rangers were at Gray-New Gloucester Wednesday (also too late for print) and are then idle until Tuesday of next week when the visit Yarmouth.

The rematch with the Capers is June 3 in Cape Elizabeth. Don’t expect Greely to be down for long.

“Hopefully this will motivate us,” Soule said. “It’s a good learning opportunity. We’ll see them again in a couple weeks.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.

Greely senior Kevin Hart stole second during the second inning of his team’s showdown with Cape Elizabeth Monday afternoon. (Brandon McKenney photo)
Greely senior speedster Nate Martin ran down this fly ball off the bat
of Cape Elizabeth’s Kyle Piscopo in the fifth inning, but he couldn’t
snare Martin’s grand slam home run in the seventh that sent the Rangers
to a 5-1 defeat. (Brandon McKenney photo)

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