ALWS Game 2: Aggression pays off in Massachusetts’ win over Iowa

Often in baseball, having a runner thrown out at home plate early in the game could stop a potential rally and be something a coach later regrets.

For Beverly (Mass.) Post 331 on Thursday in the American Legion World Series at Shelby, N.C., it was simply the kind of aggressive baserunning that soon paid bigger dividends in an 8-4 victory over Dubuque County, Iowa.

"We're aggressive and I'm aggressive," Beverly head coach Michael Levine said. "I got the guy thrown out at home. But I wanted them to make a play. And they had to make a good play and two good throws. He (our baserunner) is quick. And they did it.

"But I still had a guy at second base and some big hitters coming up."

As Levine foresaw, those batters kept the big inning going that ended up giving Beverly a 4-0 lead after three innings.

It was a rally that included three hits, three hit batters and one walk. Lee Pacheco's RBI single and Brennan Frost's RBI double were the next two batters after a Beverly runner was thrown out on perfect cutoff throws from rightfielder Michael Garrett and second baseman Tucker Nauman.

After Dubuque County cut into the lead to make it 4-1 after 3 1-2 innings, Beverly scored three more runs in the fourth on two hits, two walks, one hit batter and two fielding errors.

"That's what we do," Levine said. "We string hits together. They hit a lot of batters and we got people on base. That's when we're good."

Pacheco, Tyler Petrosino and William Foglietta had two hits apiece to lead Beverly's eight-hit offense that also benefitted from drawing five walks and five hit batters.

Beverly starter and winner Eric Depiero went five innings, allowing five hits, two runs, one walk and two strikeouts before relievers Noah Guanci and Nicholas McIntyre got the final six outs.

Dubuque County showed life all the way to the end as it left the bases loaded when the game ended.

"We just waited a little too long," Dubuque County coach Ronnie Kramer said. "We're just going to have to battle back Saturday and Sunday."

Michael Garrett's game-high three hits led Dubuque County's offense.

"I just thought we hit balls at them all day long," said Kramer, whose team struck out only twice in its 21 outs. "We put the ball in play. But we hit several guys, which doesn't help. You can't give away free bases in a tournament like this."