EAST PROVIDENCE — The Riverside Post 10 Junior Division team, sponsored by the Athlete turn Champion (ATC) performance facility, capped off its 2024 Rhode Island American Legion Baseball League schedule atop of the standings, though still in a holding pattern as it pertains to the upcoming playoffs.

The Juniors finished their slate with a 12-3 record following a 10-1 route of visiting R&R Construction/Post 7 (Aquidneck Island) at Pierce Field on July 18.

James Palmieri was the winning pitcher, going five innings, allowing five hits, striking out one and walking a pair. Post 7's run was unearned.

The locals opened the scoring in the bottom of the first after Nolan Lorenz singled and later came around to put Riverside on top, albeit briefly. R&R plated the tying run in the top of the second, though Post 10 had its own response in the bottom of the frame to retake lead.

Riverside scored three times in the home half of the second. Palmieri helped his cause by drawing a free pass to start the rally, then stole second. Ben Hallene reached on a single. Braylen DeCosta walked to load the bases. Max Pawlik drew another base-on-balls to plate the first run. Aiden Martins reached on a fielder's choice, but forced the runner at home. JJ Renuad was the fourth local to earn a walk. Lorenz was then hit by a pitch to bring the third run of the inning around to make it 4-1 Post 10.

Riverside tacked on two more runs in the third and scored four times in the fifth. Hallene began the fifth-inning rally with a single. DeCosta walked once more. Jacob Sousa had a RBI-single and later scored on a wild pitch. Graham Franke walked to load the bases. Martins drove in a run with a groundout. JJ Renaud had a run-scoring double.

As for the rest of the night offensively, Hallene finished with two hits in his two official plate appearances. Martins, Lorenz and Pawlik each drove in two runs. DeCosta three walks, including one with the bases loaded. Riverside drew 10 walks total in the game the game. Lorenz also stole two bases.

Post 10, the reigning RIALBL state champs, had a long wait between games and to find out where exactly it sat in the hierarchy of the league.

Riverside had a two-game lead over second-place South Kingstown Post 39, but the latter had two games to make-up prior to the start of the postseason on Monday, July 29. Final seeding for the playoffs won't be determined until SK is done with its regular season.

It's still likely, though, that Post 10 will host an opening round, doubleheader July 29 at Pierce.

Overall for the regular season, Will Francis led the locals with a .515 batting average. Martins was next at .469 followed by Renaud at .455. Renaud has also been Riverside's horse on the hill, having not allowed an earned run to date. He, Hallene and Palmieri have been the pitchers of record in 11 of Post 10's wins.

"The season has been outstanding," said Post 10 Juniors manager Ben Emond, who's assisted by Ryan Havunen and Robert Wordell. "It's been a continuation of excellence even as much of the core group of the past two seasons has moved up to Senior baseball. However, the Juniors hasn’t skipped a beat. Offensively, we're opportunistic, patient and aggressive when needed. Defensively, we play a strong outfield, and our catching and pitching has been top notch. The kids have typically been calm, cool and collected to a fault, as we have had to come from behind to win in several games."