Tigers approach playoffs among division leaders

Posted 5/26/17

By Nick Friend

Tiverton has turned their season around in a big way, after stumbling out of the gate with a 0-3 start; Since then the Tigers have since gone 11-1 with one of the best record in …

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Tigers approach playoffs among division leaders

Posted

By Nick Friend

Tiverton has turned their season around in a big way, after stumbling out of the gate with a 0-3 start; Since then the Tigers have since gone 11-1 with one of the best record in D-II.

The Tigers improved to 11-4 last week when they traveled to Bristol last Tuesday and dealt the Mount Hope Huskies a 6-0 loss.

Mason Farias struck out nine batters en-route to the victory.

Rayden Viveiros was among the batting leaders for Tiverton, going 2 for 3 and driving in two runs. Tiverton batters had nine hits on the afternoon.

Tiverton saw its record drop a notch to 11-5 the next day (Wednesday) in a 5-2 loss to Westerly (5-13). Tigers’ pitcher According to Tiverton head coach Bob Murray, Tiverton struggled defensively before sharpening up over their continued hot stretch.

“As the defense got better, we got better.,” he said.

On the mound, the Tigers have seen consistent performance from Mason Farias who finished his stellar season off with a complete game.

“Mason has pitched well for us, but we have depth in our pitching which has helped a lot,” Coach Murray said. “Zach Pieroni has been very good for us. Evan Monast has also been very good too.”

At the plate, Tiverton has seen Stephen Gacioch and Farias produce consistently at the top half of the order with only one player hitting below .300.

“Stephen and Mason have been very good at the plate. Evan Monast has also been very good at the plate and Kai Henson has (as well),” Coach Murray said. “Brett being the leadoff hitter has a way off getting on base and Schneider, the number nine hitter, has come up with some big hits. Everyone is contributing.”

With just two games remaining in the season (as of last Friday), and Tiverton’s record currently sitting at 11-5, if the Tigers win out they are still in the hunt for one of the division’s best records.

“I would like to be able to say we did that,” Coach Murray said. “However if you lose a game, you can go from one all the way down to fifth. Each game we play right now is like a playoff game.”

Coach Murray is also very anxious to to find out the structure of the Division II bracket, if Tiverton gets a bye as part of the best four teams in D-II, it would change who and when each pitchers goes.

However, for now, the Tigers turn their attention to the last three games and then onto the playoffs.

“You have to play your best baseball in May and that is what we are out here doing,” Coach Murray said. “If you do that, you get a good chance in the tournament.”

The Mt. Hope high school 2017 regular season baseball campaign has come to an end. An inconsistent year ended in a 3-5 slump that dropped their record to 10-8 overall.

After a hot start to the season offensively, the Huskies’ offense is averaging just 3.25 runs per game during said slump.

“Our bats died down a little bit,” Mt. Hope head coach Michael Mazzarella said. “We got off to a fast start this season and then we kind of tailed off. Unfortunately our lineup has faded off. We have a lot of young guys and they go up and down so hopefully we can get them going again in the playoffs.”

However, even still, not everyone is performing poorly with the bat including a standout junior leadoff hitter.

“Charlie Amarante has been our standout all year,” Coach Mazzarella said. “He is probably the best leadoff hitter in our division. Kid just hits, that is what he does. We go with him everyday and he sets the tone for our lineup. It is just a matter of the guys behind him.”

While the performances at the plate has cooled off for Mt. Hope, the performances on the mound have not, led by one of the best pitchers in Division II.

“I think our strength of the season has been our pitching, they have done a good job all year long,” Coach Mazzarella said. “Jacob Servant has our been CY Young nomination for us this year. He is a first or second team all division guy and he has been good. Hopeful we can get him some rest and throw him game one in the playoffs.”

Mt. Hope now tries to turn their attention to the upcoming postseason with a long eight day layoff.

“I think it (the long layoff) will help us, we are a little banged up right now,” Coach Mazzarella said. “As of right now we are kind of slipping into the playoffs so we would like to use the eight days to get better. Hopefully our pitching will holdup for the playoffs”

For the now, the Huskies are gong to focus on trying to inject some energy into their team and lineup before play resumes.

“We have to have some good practices,” Coach Mazzerlla said. “We wait and sit to see who we play. I think we have to have some high intensity practices and kind of get the energy going that kickstarts us going into the playoffs.”

“We are probably going to end up between the six and eight spot which puts us in a decent spot,” he continued. “There is some good teams so you would like to avoid them. We are in the waiting game as of now.”

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.