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Re-tooled ICC downs Limeport 4-2
Newcomers Collina and Soriano are
proving to be contributors.
By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call
Two evenly-matched, quality teams; gorgeous,
Chamber-of-Commerce weather, and the Lehigh Valley’s version of the “Field of
Dreams” have made this year’s Tri-County championship series so special that it
would have been a shame for it to end early.
And, it won’t thanks to Woodlawn’s riveting 5-4 win over Coplay Wednesday night
at Limeport Stadium.
For a team coming off its first ever Tri-County League championship, the ICC
Pirates were faced with a much larger roster turnover than might be
expected.
Yes, outfielder Brian Martin, who's been around a while, helped lift the
Pirates to a 4-2 win over visiting Limeport on Wednesday night with a
two-run, fifth-inning home run. But the performance of two newcomers,
19-year-old right-hander Kyle Collina and shortstop Jose Soriano, showed
that veteran ICC manager Mike Brosious did a good job finding replacements.
Collina, a Notre Dame-Green Pond alumnus coming off a promising freshman
season at Lehigh, picked up his second win against three losses. With his
college coach, Sean Leary, scoping his every move, Collina scattered five
hits over six innings and struck out seven. He blanked the hard-hitting
Bulls through five innings, then surrendered a two-run double to veteran
Steve Raysely in the sixth and turned the ball over to veteran southpaw
Scott Stewart, who tossed a 1-2-3 seventh to save the win.
''Kyle has thrown every tough game for us so far,'' Brosious said. ''He
struggled a bit against Lehigh Township , but he's been really tough his
last three. His emergence has been big for us since we lost Troy Fry. He's a
bull out there. He can even close for us if we need that; that's what he did
for Sean at Lehigh.''
''Coach Leary wants me to work hard on a changeup and a breaking ball this
summer, to complement my fastball,'' Collina said. ''In college, I relied
almost completely on my fastball, and I know I'm going to need to develop
some offspeed stuff.
''I want to work on things like holding runners on base and to have
confidence in my other pitches. So far, I'm definitely pleased with how it's
gone; I'm feeling more comfortable about throwing a breaking ball with a 3-2
count, and I've been getting the change over.''
ICC lost shortstop Chad Stecker, a Pleasant Valley graduate, to a North
Carolina collegiate league. Soriano has stepped into the gap, almost by
accident.
''Jose is from the Bronx,'' revealed Brosious, who's also on the Whitehall
High staff. ''He and his cousin, Rick Rodriguez, who was on our team at
Whitehall, just moved into the area. He came to Hitters' Edge with us and
looked good. I called his high school, and he told me Jose was a player. He
sure is.''
Soriano singled and doubled in three trips against Limeport, scoring the
Pirates' second run on A.J. Peracchia's third-inning single.
Limeport
000 002 0 — 2 5 1
ICC 011 020 x — 4 6 2
Pat Lane, Jeff
Cavanaugh (6) and JonMichael Vito; Kyle Collina, Scott Stewart (7) and Kyle
Ruff. WP: Collina. S: Stewart. LP: Lane. HR: ICC:
Brian Martin (5th, 1 on).
ted.meixell@mcall.com
From The Morning Call --
June 19, 2003
Copyright
© 2003,
The Morning Call
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