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South Jefferson vs Immaculate Heart: Game Recap

May 4, 2016

Joe Mags
Greater Watertown Area

South Jefferson 8, Immaculate Heart 6


South Jefferson baseball fought itself out of an early three-run deficit at the Watertown Fairgrounds, emerging in the fourth inning for six runs and emerging victorious in an 8-6 win over Immaculate Heart Central in the Frontier League on Tuesday night.
The Spartans (6-2, 6-1) were led on the mound and at the plate by Bryce Berie, who protected a 7-6 lead through four innings by striking out seven batters and restricting the potent Cavaliers’ lineup to five hits. In the fourth, Berie turned on an inside fastball from opposing starter Joshua Navarra for an RBI triple, putting South Jefferson ahead 7-4.

Immaculate Bats Get Cavaliers Started

The Cavaliers (7-3, 5-1) boast a prolific offense, returning nearly every prominent player from their 2015 Frontier League Class A championship team. IHC outclassed its first five opponents by 61 runs — including a 67-7 edge in four April blowouts — before going 2-2 in Myrtle Beach during the school’s spring break.

“It’s a challenge to get through that lineup once, (let alone) two or three times,” said Berie, who found himself down 4-1 after two innings. “But I just threw a bunch of off-speed and mixed them up a little bit.”

Jake Fusilli, a tall, multi-sport standout at IHC, made Berie work out of the leadoff spot. After falling behind in the count, Fusilli cleared the bases by lifting a fastball on the black into the corner in left field, part of a 4-run second inning.

IHC’s No. 2 hitter Vincenzo Alteri, a junior, is a Division I caliber shortstop prospect raking over .500 since his varsity call-up in 8th grade. In the first, Berie was able to get ahead on Fusilli and put him down with a pair of low changeups.

Against Alteri, however, he wasn’t as lucky. Berie fell behind on pitches low and out of the zone. Then Alteri fouled a pitch just above the zone, took a ball, and slapped a 3-2 pitch up the middle when Berie grabbed too much of the plate, again setting up high in the zone. Alteri took second base after never slowing down out of the box, catching the center fielder napping.

Alteri once again got the better of Berie in the second, staying down on a 2-1 pitch — another chest-high fastball that saw too much plate — and Alteri put it right back where it came from to score Fusilli.

“(Alteri) is a great hitter,” Berie said. “Definitely can’t make any mistakes with that guy.”

Berie Makes Jams, Works Himself Out of Them

To Berie’s credit, he hung tough and worked himself out of every trouble spot. In the first, he got back-to-back called third strikes — the first on a breaking pitch grabbing the lower half of the zone, and the later on a pitch-perfect outside-high-inside sequence — stranding Alteri on base.

In Fusilli’s third at-bat, he squared a perfect bunt, lofting the ball down the third base line and loading the bases with no outs. Berie worked Alteri to a full count, but opted to leave the ball well above the zone on the money pitch, walking in a run — as opposed to giving up multiple runs on another Alteri base hit.

Another run crossed the plate following a wild pitch, but with the bases juiced, Berie set up Trent Mitchell with an inside curveball for strike three, then yielded a groundout to first base on a 3-2 count to Nolan Bellinger by getting him to chop a high fastball. The Spartans left the fourth inning with a 7-6 lead intact, and South Jefferson didn’t trail the rest of the way.

“We just stuck with it,” said South Jefferson head coach Joe Vaadi. “Bryce got into a couple jams, and we got out of them. We kept plugging away.”

Spartans Turned Tide In Fourth Inning Explosion

The Spartans took control of the game in the fourth by getting five out of six batters on base before leadoff hitter Will Lowe stepped into the box. Having two runs already crossed the plate, catcher Caleb Beach pelted a ball into left-center field, scoring three runs.

“The lower end of the lineup, there’s no holes,” Berie said. “Nos. 1-9, everybody knows their job.”

Berie has a middle infielder’s size, but his powerful hands allow him to stay on the baseball and drive. The 5-foot-9 junior can play all over the field, and possesses significant speed — he reached third base on his RBI-triple in 11:07 seconds.

Beach picked up his fourth RBI in the sixth by lining a ball into right field, driving home Lowe on an astute send call from Vaadi at third base — beating the cut-off throw from Alteri by a full second.

South Jefferson Stepped Up in the Field

The Spartan offense grabbed the lead from the Cavaliers, but it was the team’s performance in the field that secured the victory. The second inning ended on a phenomenal reaction play from right fielder Brett Lalone.

Berie attempted to pick-off Alteri at first base and sent the ball rolling along the fence in foul territory. With two outs, Alteri took off galloping with no intention of settling for second. But Lalone anticipated the overthrow, gathered and rifled the ball twice the distance between first and third base in time for a bang-bang tag to end the inning.

South Jefferson benefited from another superb defensive effort from Beach in the fifth. With Lalone in the first of his three innings of relief, Fusilli swung late and pounded the ball a few feet in front of home plate. With two outs and Nicholas Clement charging home from third, Beach spun around like he was throwing to first, and pivoted in front of the plate to cut off Clement.

“I knew (Fusilli) was too fast — I didn’t really have a chance,” Beach said. “I saw (Clement) coming out of the corner of my eye, and I knew that was the best play I could make.”

“They’re both big plays in the game,” Vaadi said. “Alteri was the third out (on Lalone’s throw), and (Beach’s play) was the third out as well.”

Berie and Lalone combined to allow just six hits and six runs while striking out nine.


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