American Legion (Majors) Baseball Roster - 2011
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Players: Ian Beumee, Dominick D'Altilio, Brett Decker, Erik Gustavson, Jack Haley, Alex Kellett, Philip Kirna, Zachary Lefferts, Thomas Stephanian, Joseph Taylor, Nicholas Vittorio and Ben Winstead.
Manager: Joe Taylor. Coaches: Gary Beumee and Jeff Vittorio.
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Vittorio pitches, hits Legion
to first win of season, 7-5
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Vittorio pitches and hits
Legion to first victory
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DENVILLE - Nicholas Vittorio was the winning pitcher, hit a three-run homer and drove in another run on a groundout to lead American Legion to its first victory of the season, a 7-5 decision over the Knights of Columbus in a Denville Little League Major Division baseball game played at Gardner Field here on Saturday, April 30, 2011.
Vittorio started and pitched the first five innings, holding the heavy-hitting Knights of Columbus team to five runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks. He struck out sevenm batters before giving way to Thomas Stepanian, who pitched a scoreless and hitless sixth inning with two strikeouts to earn the save.
Trailing 2-0 after the Knights (2-1) scored twice in the top of the first inning, the Legion (1-3) scored four times in the bottom of the second to take a lead it never lost.
Erik Gustavson and Zach Lefferts opened the inning with back-to-back singles and Stepanian drew a walk to load the bases. Dominick D'Altilio's one-out single drove in the first run; Ian Beumee and Joe Taylor each drew bases-loaded walks to force in the second and third runs; and Vittorio capped the inning with an RBI groundout that drove in Beumee.
The Knights pulled to within a run at 4-3 with a single run in the top of the third inning before Vittorio drove in what proved to be the winning runs with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.
Alex Kellett led off the Legion fourth with a single and Taylor drew a one-out walk to put runners on first and second. Vittorio followed with a three-run blast that cleared the fence in right-center to give the Legion a commanding 7-3 lead.
The Knights countered with a two-run flurry in the top of the fifth, but Stepanian came in and shut the door with his scoreless sixth inning to end the game.
The Legion was out-hit, 9-6, with Gustavson leading the way by going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Vittorio finished 1-for-3 with his homer and four RBIs; D'Altilio was 1-for-1 with an RBI and a run scored; Kellet was 1-for-2 with a run scored; and Zach Lefferts was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Beaumee had an RBI and scored a run; Taylor had an RBI; and Stepanian also scored a run.
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Decker, Vittorio belt triples in Legion opening-day loss
DENVILLE - American Legion scored all four of its runs in the first two innings but then ran into a hot relief pitcher and suffered a 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Knights of Columbus in a Denville Little League Majors Division game played at Gardner Field on Thursday, April 21, 2011.
American Legion scored two runs in the top of the first inning when Brett Decker hit a two-out single and Nicholas Vittorio tripled to the right-field fence and stole home for a quick 2-0 lead.
The Knights got a run back in the bottom of the first, but Legion moved out to a 4-1 lead when Decker hit a two-out, two-run triple with Zach Lefferts and Joe Taylor on board.
Tyler Faccenda came in to pitch for the Knights at this point in the game and finished by striking out 11 and allowing but one hit - a bunt single by Taylor in the fifth - in 4.1 scoreless innings.
The Knights scored four times in the bottom of the fourth inning to secure the victory.
Decker finished 2-for-2 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored; Vittorio was 1-for-3 with an RBI triple and a run scored; and Taylor was 1-for-3 with a run scored to lead the American Legion attack.
Erik Gustavson, Jack Haley, Ian Beumee and Vittorio handled the pitching duties for American Legion.
Defensively, catcher Erik Gustavson made a nice play when he pounced on a Vittorio wild pitch and was able to get the ball to Vittorio covering home in time for Vittorio to tag out a KofC runner trying to score.
On Saturday, April 23, at 6 p.m. at Gardner-2, the Knights of Columbus and American Legion are scheduled to complete their opening-day game that was suspended with American Legion leading 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth. After the completion of the suspended game, the teams are scheduled to play the third game of their opening-season four-game series.
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