By Rob Silverstein
The Phillies remain the only unbeaten Greenwich Village Little League Majors B team as the division finishes its third week of frequently rain-interrupted play. The Phillies beat the Expos 16 to 7, raising their division-leading record to a perfect four wins and no losses, while maintaining a one-game lead over the Marlins and the Padres, who are tied for second place.
The Phillies achieved their latest victory with superb pitching by starter Ben Lavin, Matt Phillips, Ari Fima and closer James Newman. Newman, Fima, Rumur Dowling, Alex Schwartz and King Landesman all had a multi-hit day, with Schwartz leading the team with four RBI’s. For the Expos, Sam Philbrick had two hits and scored two runs and Sam Eisenman also had two hits, scoring one run. In addition to hitting, Eisenman turned in a solid game behind the plate.
In the other Majors B game played on Sunday, the Padres scored seven runs in the top of the sixth to come back to edge the Pirates 11 to 9. Erik Coller pitched the entire game for the Pirates and held the Padres to just four runs on six hits through five innings before getting into trouble in the sixth. The hitting stars for the Padres were twin brothers Cody and Daniel Stephens. Daniel went three-for-four with three RBI’s, including the game-winning double in the top of the sixth, and Cody went four-for-four with four RBI’s raising his batting average through four games to an amazing .846 (on 11-for-13 batting).
Andrew Cook pitched the first two innings for the Padres. The Pirates scored four runs in the first on doubles by Michael Schott, Will Zimmerman and Chris Krasnow and a hit batsman (Alex Lowey) who came around to score by stealing home. Cook settled down in the second inning holding the Pirates to one run, giving up a walk to Eric Coller who stole second and came around to score on Will Zimmerman’s RBI single. Richard Nelson-Chow came in to pitch for the Padres in the top of the third and held the Pirates to four runs over the last four innings to pick up the win.
In the top of the sixth, Steven Iglehart led off for the Padres with a single. Then, after a strikeout and fielder’s choice the Padres put together a seven-run two-out rally on a single by Andrew Cook, a walk to Danny Scholz (who had three other hits on the day), a single by Nelson-Chow, a double by Cody Stephens, a double by Daniel Stephens, a single by Mark Pejerski and a single by Basil Lyons.
However, the Pirates were not about to go down without a fight of their own. In the bottom of the sixth, they scored two runs on a walk by Mathew Spector, a single by Coller (who was subsequently called out for throwing his bat), a single by Schott and a double by Zimmerman. The game ended when a Pirate player tried to steal home on a wild pitch and Padres catcher Erica Silverstein got to the ball quickly and beat the Pirate player to the plate to make the tag.
In a game on Thursday, the Pirates (who seem to play one close game after another) were edged out by the Marlins 12 to 9.
