The Mt. Hope baseball team amassed 25 hits and scored 25 runs as they clobbered North Smithfield in an away and home series, beating the Northmen 15-1 away on Saturday, and 10-0 at Guiteras Field on Monday. Jack Standish (3 hits, 4 RBI, 4 runs scored) and Ryan Nappi (6 hits, 4 RBI, 4 runs scored) led the bashing for the Huskies in the two-game onslaught, which gave the Huskies a perfect 4-0 in Division II to start the season. Both games were over by the fifth inning due to the 10-un rule. 

“Nappi and Standish have been terrific to start the season,” said Mt. Hope head coach Mike Mazzarella. “They are hitting everything in sight. We have the ability to do a lot of things when they are on the bases, and the guys behind them have done a great job of getting them in. They are setting the tone for the rest of the lineup.”

The Huskies are also getting production from the meat of the lineup as well. Cleanup hitter Matt Brackett had 2 hits, 2 RBI and scored 2 runs in the two games against North Smithfield, and five hitter Cameron Connor had 4 hits, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored. Ten different Huskies had a hit in game one, and seven different players hit in game two.

“Our offense is really clicking at the moment,” said Coach Mazzarella. “The team is doing all the little things to manufacture runs. It has been very impressive to watch.”

Ace pitching

The team also received excellent pitching from junior Dayton Van Amberg, junior Matt Terceiro and senior Seth Cloutier. The trio combined to stymie North Smithfield in the two games, as the Northmen managed just a single run. Van Amberg started the first game and struck out four Northmen in three innings. Terceiro relieved Van Amberg in the fourth and struck out three in his two innings of work. Terceiro got North Smithfield’s Ethan Harnois to ground to Parker Camelo at shortstop, who threw over to Frank Ferrara at first base to end the game, 15-1. 

Cloutier and Van Amberg combined to no-hit the Northmen in the home game. Cloutier started the game and struck out four Northmen in four innings. Van Amberg pitched the fifth inning and fanned the last two batters. Cam Connor smacked a double with the bases loaded to end the game, 10-0.

“Seth did a very nice job keeping hitters off balance in his first start of the season,” Coach Mazzarella said. “Dayton finished off the combined no-hitter with two strikesouts.”

“It’s been a good start of the season for us. The teams is playing very well,” Coach Mazzarella said.  “It’s important that we try to get better every day.”

The team has a pair of tough road games this week, at Classical on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and at Juanita Sanchez at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The team plays Juanita Sanchez at home on Monday, May, 24. 

Shutting down Barrington

Last Thursday, May 13, sophomore pitcher AJ Jones struck out 13, while pitching a two-hit, complete game shutout, as Mt. Hope beat Barrington, 2-0, at Guiteras Field.

“The sky is the limit for AJ,” coach Mazzarella of his number two starter. “He’s got a live arm. He works hard in practice. Iit doesn’t really surprise me, what he does on the mound.” 

The hard throwing righty was impressive in his varsity debut, striking out the side in the first, second and fifth innings. Jones mostly threw a blazing two-seam fastball and sprinkled in a filthy curve to get out Barrington hitters in his seven innings of work. 

“We were definitely the underdog in that game, and I think that we showed them who the better team was for sure,” Jones said after the game. “They were chirping early in the game. It felt good to shut them down.”