Getting thrown out of a championship game wasn’t part of the strategy, but after Whitestone Renegades baseball team coaches were tossed in the top of the fifth inning from the Nick Lomangino Tournament final, the team seemed to have new energy.
Two assistant coaches got tossed from the game on Monday after arguing a call with the umpire that favored the opposing Bayside Bulldogs.
The Whitestone team gave up its lead early in the inning thanks to the call, but after the ejections, starting pitcher Lino Gagliano struck out the side to end the Bayside rally.
And when it was their turn to bat, the Renegades scored two runs to get a 5-3 lead, which they protected for the victory. Gagliano notched 14 strikeouts on 116 pitches for a complete game win.
“They tied up the score, but we came back,” Whitestone Renegades manager John Cirillo said. “The next inning we came right back at them.”
The Renegades, who play out of the Dwarf-Giraffe Athletic League, used timely hitting to break the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Third baseman Angelo Alessandro, who finished the game 3-for-3, smacked a double to the fence to get things going.
Then Gagliano brought him home with a single. The following batter, catcher Nick Ellerby, then smacked a double to send Gagliano home.
With the renewed 5-3 lead, Gagliano got back on the mound for the two remaining innings and looked like a machine. He struck out the final six batters — without allowing a hit — to win the championship.
“Once you got the lead in the sixth and the seventh inning, it becomes who is going to fight harder, and we did,” Cirillo said. “We fought like a team.”
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