Hess' Homers Power Skippers Past Islanders

The top-seeded North Kingstown High School baseball team powered its way to a 11-6 win yesterday against ten-seeded Middletown to kick off state semifinals at McCarthy Field in West Warwick. North Kingstown left the field with four home runs, amounting for seven of the 11 runs scored by the Skippers.

North Kingstown captain Joseph Haley drove in the game's first run with an RBI double. Sophomore Chris Hess blasted it to right center for a solo homer, pushing NK's lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the first.

Skippers senior Pat O'Connor belted it to deep right center for a two run blast in the bottom of the second. A bloop single by Michael Sherburne extended the lead to 5-0 through two innings.

North Kingstown's potent offense never let up in the game, as they scored in every inning. Sophomore Austin Barry's double off the left field fence brought in their sixth run in the bottom of the third.

"Offensively they displayed a ton of power," said Middletown head coach Eric Godin of the Skippers' offensive play.

Middletown began chipping away at their deficit in the top of the fourth. Justin Sellar and captain Joseph Sanfilippo each notched an RBI, trimming NK's lead to 6-2. NK's Sherburne homered to right field in the bottom half upping the lead to 7-2.

Sophomore Austin Barry came into the game in the fifth inning for the Skippers in relief, after starting pitcher Dominic Grillo loaded the bases with no outs. 

The Islanders were staging a rally in the fifth with the bases loaded and no outs before lightning caused the game to be delayed.

Returning to the field, Islanders junior Kevin Nash's single to right field plated two runs and NK's lead was cut to 7-5. Barry recovered, striking out two in a row and inducing a ground ball to end the inning.

Barry helped his own cause in the bottom half with an RBI double to right center, extending the Skippers lead to 8-5.

After Middletown's Mark Powell homered in the sixth, the Skippers home run barrage continued in the bottom half of the inning, putting the game out of reach as Hess blasted a three-run shot to right field upping the lead to 11-6. He notched two homers and four RBI's on the night.

Skippers coach, Kevin Gormley, realizes that his pitching staff needs to cut down on the walks. "We need to do a better job of not giving them free bases," he said, "We have to clean it up, by pounding the zone and not giving up walks."

"They are a very tough team," the coach added.

Godin spoke about wasted opportunities to score runs. "We had our opportunities early in the game," he said, "We seemed to be shaky defensively early in the game." 

The Skippers will have a shot at wrapping up the series and heading to McCoy Stadium for the state finals with a win tonight as game two kicks off at 7 p.m. at McCarthy Field.