East Boston Knights Top Southie in Play

The East Boston Knights welcomed the South Boston Saints to “The Stadium” last Wednesday night for a first place showdown between the 2 clubs in what could be a preview of a huge playoff matchup in the Yawkey Baseball League of Boston. The Knights sent veteran pitcher Jeff Allison to the bump to face off against Chris DuPay. The Knights struck first in the bottom of the first on a laser beam home run from Brad Tardugno to give the Knights a 2 to 0 lead. That was all the Knights needed offensively as Jeff Allison kept Southie off balance all night. The Saints had managed runners on 2nd and 3rd in the top of the 1st but Allison quickly put that threat to rest. Allison (1R, 3H, 6K’s) breezed the rest of the way leading the Knights to sole possession of first place and moving his record to 2-0 on the season. The Knights added 3 more runs in the 3rd inning moving the lead to 5 to 0 highlighted by a Marty Dunlap triple. Victor Lebron chipped in with 2 hits and 2 stolen bases. With those 2 steals Lebron now has 35 on the season, 3 away from breaking the all time YBL single season stolen bases record. “Victor has been the spark plug all season for this offense. He in my mind is the MVP not only of this team but of this league” Said manager Eric Bellavia. “He does all of the little things and is as humble as they come.” LeBron has some jaw dropping numbers. He is second in batting with a .473 batting average, second in the league with 38 hits, 4th with 3 homeruns, 3rd in RBI with 24, 3rd in runs scored with 26, amoung the top five in OPS, OBP, and slugging percentage and is far and away the league leader with 35 steals. Defensively he has only 1 error and 4 outfield assists. “His speed is something I haven’t seen in my 5 years with the team. His ability to patrol centerfield and get to balls that are hit hard and far blows my mind sometimes. We are lucky to have him” boasted the manager.

The Knights traveled to Milton to face off in another first place showdown, this time vs the Al Thomas A’s. The Knights didn’t fare so well in this one dropping the game 6 to 0. Max Ockner got the start for the Knights and was brilliant through 4 innings before giving up a walk and a few bloop hits before giving way to John Tangherlini in the 5th inning. Tangherlini came on with no out in the inning retiring the first 2 batters he faces before giving up a 2 out hit that lead to a 2 to 0 lead the Knights couldn’t recover from. Offensively the Knights could only muster 3 hits and suffered the loss. The Knights are now 1 point behind the A’s for 1st place with 3 games in hand. “We have won this division the last 2 seasons and this one has been tough. With 3 games in hand I believe we can make up some ground and win it again.” Said manager Eric Bellavia. The Knights have a busy week coming up leading to the playoffs which start next week. We will see what this team is made of during that stretch.

 RRBL Knights recap: 7/24/14

PEABODY, MA – The Braves came to town looking to put an end to the Knights winning ways.  The Knights are undefeated in july and have catapulted themselves to second place in the conference after an abysmal start to the season.  Ruben Sanchez WP (6IP, 3H, 0BB, 0R) took the hill for his fifth start of the year letting only 1 batter get past second base who was promptly picked off trying to steal home.  He recorded 8 strikeouts in the 6 frames pitched while not walking any batters.  Before even taking the ball, the Knights put up 4 runs in the top of the first which would be all that they would need to cruise to their 12th victory of the season and 4th in a row.The scoring started early for the Knights after a leadoff walk by Jose Paulino (0-4; BB, R, SB, 3K) and Kenny Polanco (2-3; BB, R, SB).  Brandon Polignone (2-3; 2RBI, 2R, BB, SB) started off his seasons best day at the plate with a two run bloop single to left field. He was followed by a triple to deep right by Justin Wojcik (2-3; R, RBI, BB) who would eventually come around to score the 4th run of the inning.  Andy Marques (1-3; 3B, BB, 2K) added the second triple of the game in the second inning and scored on a wild pitch.

The Knights would have 6 multi-hit innings when the dust settled and showed how dominant they could be when firing on all cylinders. After manhandling the Braves throughout all last regular season and playoffs, the Knights struggled this year against their crosstown rivals having lost the previous two meetings.  This victory meant a lot to the Knights as it showed that they would not be an easy victory if they inevitably end up facing one another in the playoffs.  The next games the the Knights are a double header against the conference leading Gators at Peabody High School on Sunday August 3rd at 1 and 4 PM.

RRBL Knights upcoming games:

Sunday August 3rd vs the Metro Gators a doubleheader at Peabody High at 1 and 4PM.

YBL Knights upcoming games:

Wednesday July 30th vs the Brighton Blacksox at Maplewood Park 8pm

Thursday July 31st vs the Revere Rockies at Maplewood Park 8pm

Saturday August 2nd vs the West Roxbury Nationals at King Field 1pm

Saturday August 2nd vs the McKay Club Beacons at King Field 4pm

Monday August 4th vs the Somerville Alibrandis at East Boston Stadium 8pm

Follow the East Boston Knights:

www.eastbostonknights.com

www.yawkeybaseball.com

www.rrblbaseball.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ebknights

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eastbostonknights

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