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Jamestown Finds Way Into Win Column

SOMERS POINT, N.J. — Kyle Dean didn’t have his best stuff on the mound Thursday morning, but he more than made up for it at the plate.

Dean collected three hits and scored three runs and Calvin Ricker celebrated his 14th birthday with some stellar relief work to spark the Jamestown All-Stars to a 15-7 victory over Prince George’s County (Md.) in the final game of pool play at the Babe Ruth 13-year-old Mid-Atlantic Regional.

The win improved Jamestown’s record to 1-2 in Pool B, good for the third seed. It will now meet Cranford, New Jersey (2-1), the No. 2 seed in Pool A, at 9 a.m. today in the single-elimination portion of the tournament.

“We watched them today,” Jamestown coach Tommy Tantillo said, “and they’re a similar team to us. We’re expecting to see one of their better pitchers, but if we come to play it should be a very good game. I think we’re ready to compete.”

The local all-stars were ready to compete against Prince George’s County.

In addition to Dean’s contributions at the plate, Owen Maggio had a two-run double and a sacrifice fly, Riley Piazza had a single and two RBIs and Christopher Navarro scored three runs as Jamestown’s offense came live after suffering a pair of 3-2 losses to start the tournament.

“All we were missing in the first two games was timely hitting,” Tantillo said. “We felt we were playing well, but the ball wasn’t bouncing our way and today it did.”

Jamestown also received a fine effort from Ricker, who has seen very little time on the mound during the postseason. But when Dean lasted just five batters in the first inning, Tantillo called on the left-hander and he delivered.

“We started with Kyle, but he didn’t have his best stuff and we went to Cal,” Tantillo said. “He’s kind of been a spot guy, a lefty-on-lefty guy, but when you get into a tournament like this you need a fourth pitcher, so we went to Cal and he did everything we asked of him.”

Entering the game with two outs in the first inning, Ricker got the third out on a popup and then worked the next five innings during which he faced 23 batters, and yielded three runs on seven hits, struck out five and walked two. Because of pitch-count rules, Navarro worked the seventh inning, surrendering one run on one hit. He also struck out one.

Backed by the effective pitching, Jamestown collected nine hits and head into this morning’s game with some momentum.

“(The hits) were at the right time today,” Tantillo said.

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