By Marc Raimondi
But Lally did enter the game, an eventual Collegians 7-4 win, in extra innings with the score tied 4-4, and in the ninth he gave up three runs to take the loss for the Cadets.”I wasn't going to bring him in unless we were ahead,” said Papetti, who has led his team to a first-place spot in the Kaiser Division of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. “And we just never got ahead. From his mental approach to the game, he is prepared to come in and close the door in a winning situation.”Lally, a side-arming right-hander, walked the leadoff man, Brett Lazar, in the ninth and gave up two consecutive singles to Brent Justice and Brian Rath, the latter bringing in the tie-breaking run to give the Collegians a 5-4 lead. A wild pitch and an RBI-single by designated hitter Chris Vasami later and Long Island had a three-run lead that would not be relinquished in the bottom half of the inning.”Luckily, the infield was in,” Rath said of his jam-shot RBI single up the middle. “If the infield wasn't in, they probably would have made the play.”Lally had warmed up during the first game of the doubleheader, a 7-0 Metro Cadets (10-7) victory, and also was up throwing early in the second game on a day in which it reached the low-90s and was extremely humid.”I was warming up for awhile,” Lally, a sophomore at St. John's and Archbishop Molloy product, said. “It's not a tired issue. It was more of a mental thing. I wasn't as focused as I should have been.”The Collegians took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning, but a Robert Hallberg solo home run and a brilliant double steal tied the game up at four. Former McClany star Vinny Johnson singled and Bryan Dirr walked (his fourth base on balls of the day) after a Ralph Tropiano strike out, which set up a pinch-hit situation for David Noble with two outs. But all Noble had to do was stand in the batter's box, as Dirr attempted a steal, got himself into a run down, and Johnson came home, sliding in under the tag of catcher Steve Malvagna – a very close play at the plate.”We broke down defensively,” Collegians coach Lou Petrucci said of the sixth inning double steal. “I'm glad our team was able to compensate for that mistake and good teams usually do that.”Metro Cadets 7, Collegians 0. Metro Cadets starter Alec Smith had not given up a run in any of his previous starts – and Saturday's 7-0 win against the Long Island Collegians was no different.The 6-foot-3 Yale right-hander pitched a complete game, six-hit shutout, striking out five in a dominant performance and his offense supported him with seven runs of support.”(Smith) is going to be one of the best pitchers in the league,” Petrucci said. Reach contributing writer Marc Raimondi by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
