Kyle Harrington of Broad Street Park went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, three RBI and a two-run homer over the leftfield fence against North Hamilton. Photo by Michael A. Sabo.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
June 25: Coming off a Mercer County American Legion season in which he was named the Bus Saidt Most Valuable Player, Kyle Harrington didn’t look too valuable at the start of this year.
All it took, however, were a few games to get back in the groove. Or, in this case, on a tear.
“In the last eight games he’s been wearing it out, hitting close to six or seven hundred,” manager Mike Petrowski said after Harrington helped Broad Street Park to a 12-3 win over North Hamilton at Hamilton West tonight. “When he hits like that it’s contagious throughout the lineup. When that happens it’s gonna be tough to beat us.”
It was tough all right. Jose Rodriguez blasted two RBI triples, Darius Land hit two doubles and scored three runs, Justin Wiltsey had two hits and five RBI, and Harrington had another big day. The catcher went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, three RBI and a two-run homer over the leftfield fence to break it open in the fifth.
That prompted North Hamilton Maher Matty Maher to get tossed. Maher thought the 1-2 pitch prior to that should have been a called third strike. Harrington made it hurt on the next offering.
Both parties were laughing about it afterward.
“I got Matty fired up,” Harrington joked. “I don’t know, I thought we were friends.”
Asked about the pitch, he said, “It was close, but I thought it was a ball. It was called a ball, so. . .”
Maher was actually more concerned about his team’s lack of hitting than Harrington’s blast, as the Hibos left nine men on base between the second and fifth innings.
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“ For the most part we’re pitching pretty good,” said Maher, who got three hits from Jake Fanning and two each from Mike Giambelluca and Nick Rocco. “Phil (Rojek) pitched pretty good today for four and two-thirds innings. But we’ve gotten hits, we’ve left guys on base. The biggest killer of our season so far is the lack of the big hit. We got it against South Brunswick (Thursday), we were able to score six runs, other than that we haven’t got it.
“I said to the guys a few times ‘That one time a guy comes through it takes the weight off our shoulders.’ Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to carry it over from South Brunswick.”
North Hamilton (5-6) has lost three straight while Broad Street (14-1) has won nine straight entering Wednesday’s showdown with Hopewell in a battle of league leaders. Post 339 (11-1), which lost tonight, gave BSP its lone defeat this year. Harrington is looking for a big-time atmosphere, which can be tough to find during regular-season legion games.
“We’re hoping so,” he said. “We’re gonna get all our buddies out here supporting us, get some old alumni to come out here.”
Those who show up will see Harrington at the top of his game.
The 19-year-old had a strange spring as he red-shirted at Mercer County Community College and found himself in an unfamiliar situation.
“It’s the first time since I ever played baseball I didn’t play,” he said. “Going to games and watching and not playing was weird. My body felt good coming back (to legion) but I wasn’t ready. It was different.”
Due to his lack of seeing game pitching, Harrington entered the legion season looking to regain his timing. It took a few weeks, and since then he has been unstoppable.
“Baseball’s weird,” he said. “I talked to my parents, they were like ‘Don’t expect too much of yourself, take it as it is, it’ll come.’
“It’s not like riding a bike where you can step in the box and hit. I knew it would eventually come. I knew I’d be patient. We got a lot of guys on this team that can hit, so I knew I didn’t have to press. We all hit.”
The pitching hasn’t been too shabby either. Adam Chiacchio went 3.1 innings and Nick Diaz threw the final 3.2 to get the win.
“Chiacchio has been good for us all year,” Petrowski said. “He struggled with his command today, which is gonna happen. He’s not an overpowering guy. And I can’t ask for more from Diaz. He’s come in the biggest situations of the year and gotten us two big wins.”
Diaz allowed a hit and two walks with three strikeouts during his relief stint.
