By: Tyler Stephan

LYNDHURST, N.J. -- — Clemente Baseball used a four-run eighth inning to defeat CPBA 8-7 at Breslin Park on Thursday, June 30. Both teams put up solid offensive numbers, with Clemente scoring eight runs on 11 hits and CPBA scoring seven runs on 10 hits.

Clemente started the scoring in the top of the first inning off CPBA pitcher Ryan Rue. Chris Hopf of Clemente Baseball hit a laser off the left-field fence, bringing in Ty Nicholay. Clemente plated two more in the inning on fairly weak ground balls by Jake Smith and Tommy DeSarno. Both hits squeaked through the hole in between the first and second baseman, who was shaded up the middle. 

CPBA responded off Xavier commit Griffin Seibel, with three straight singles from Jon Primerano, Ken Bamrick, and Dylan Santos. Dario Morales added a second run on a sacrifice fly to right field to close the deficit to one run.

Both pitchers settled in over the next few innings with Seibel recording a double play in both the second and third inning to keep the score at 3-2 for Clemente. 

Seibel’s night ended after three innings. He had three strikeouts and gave up four hits, two earned runs, and three walks. Rue for CPBA cruised through the last four innings of his five-inning outing in which he recorded four strikeouts while giving up four hits, three walks, and three earned runs.

The bats came alive for CPBA in the bottom of the fifth inning off Clemente pitcher Julian Murray. A single by Jake Leonard to lead off the inning, along with an error by Clemente’s right fielder on a flyball, gave CPBA second and third with no outs. Jon Primerano drove Leonard in on a soft line drive to center field, and Dylan Santos later plated a third run on the inning on a line drive single to center field giving CPBA a 5-3 lead at the end of five.

Both teams plated a run in the sixth inning to keep the difference at two runs. Following a hit batter and sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning, Dillon Jennings singled to left field to bring in Ken Bamrick and stretch CPBA’s lead to three runs.

As CPBA seemed to be pulling away with the game, Clemente mounted a comeback. CPBA pitcher Adam Venezia began to lose command in the top of the eighth inning, giving up three walks and RBI doubles to Leyton Burgos and Johnovan Rodriguez before being replaced by Ryan Kohan. Kohan did a nice job of limiting the damage, retiring the next two batters to end the inning and sending the game to the bottom of the eight with Clemente ahead 8-7.

Aidan Denham came in to close it out for Clemente in the ninth inning. He retired the first two batters but walked Dylan Santos to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Santos reached second when Denham’s pickoff attempt got by the first baseman, but Denham settled in and retired Trevor Santos on a pop-up to the third base side of foul territory to end the game.

This was the fourth matchup between Clemente and CPBA of the season. All three games coming in had been one-run games, with two ending in an 8-7 score, the same as this game. Clemente is now 3-1 against CPBA on the year with an overall record of 8-9-1. CPBA falls to 6-8 on the year with the loss.