Niskayuna senior pitcher Mike Gabriele didn’t have to be overpowering against Mohonasen on Friday afternoon, just efficient.
Gabriele gave the Silver Warriors a big lift, tossing a two-hitter in going the distance and helping his own cause with an RBI double to lead Niskayuna to a 3-0 Suburban Council baseball victory over Mohonasen at Mohonasen High School.
The right-hander only struck out two, both coming in the fifth inning. But he recorded 12 groundball outs, and the Niskayuna defense turned two double plays behind him.
“I try to get the defense involved,” Gabriele said. “They’re great behind me, and it’s easy to pitch to contact and really go after guys when you have a great defense. That was a huge plus. They’ve been solid, and they’re just going to keep getting better.”
Gabriele threw 84 pitches, 53 for strikes. He threw 12 of 20 first-pitch strikes.
His complete-game effort was needed after the Silver Warriors (2-2 SC, 2-3 overall) used four pitchers in a 10-5 loss to Guilderland on Wednesday. And with games today and Sunday, the last thing Niskayuna needed was its bullpen to be overworked.
“I felt good,” Gabriele said. “From the first pitch, I was really pounding the zone. That was important because I wanted to keep the pitch count down and give our bullpen a rest. We have a lot of games coming up, so I was happy that I was able to get through the whole game. Getting first-pitch strikes, that was really good.”
Niskayuna coach John Furey was happy to see Gabriele go the distance, and get the team back on track.
“Our team really needed that,” Furey said. “We’ve gone out to a 1-2 [league] record. We really needed the win today, and Mike did a great job. He does what he does, he spots, he changes speeds. He was very effective today.”
The only hits Gabriele allowed were a second-inning single by Justin Collum and a sixth-inning double by Ryan Turck. Mohonasen (2-2, 2-2) never got a runner past second base.
“He did a great job,” Mohonasen coach Jim Huggins said. “He got ahead of the hitters. We swung at a lot of first-pitch off-speed pitches. It was like a pepper game to the left side of the infield.”
Gabriele’s easiest inning was the third, when he threw only six pitches. Huggins took the blame for that.
“It was probably poor coaching on my part,” Huggins said. “He doesn’t throw hard, so he had us out in front on our front foot.”
The Silver Warriors made it easy for Gabriele by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning.
The inning started when leadoff hitter Pat O’Brien was hit by a Peter Konrad pitch. One out later, Garrett Whitley walked. With Zack LeBlanc batting, the Silver Warriors executed a double steal.
LeBlanc brought home O’Brien with a sacrifice fly. Nick Insognia followed with an RBI single.
“When you can pitch with a lead, that’s awesome because you can go after guys,” Gabriele said. “You don’t have to worry about [being] on the fence. . . . It makes you feel good. Going out there pitching with a lead is very important.”
Gabriele got his run-scoring double in the sixth. Insognia reached on an error by third baseman Andrew DeCocco. Konrad was replaced by Ryan Cannon, who got Kyle Pick to fly out, but Gabriele lined a double into the left-center- field gap to score Insognia.
“It felt good,” Gabriele said. “I was looking for something over the middle of the plate. I’ve been working hard to get my hands through. I found a pitch that I could hit, and put a good swing on it.”
Konrad settled down after the first inning. He allowed just two hits in 51⁄3 innings.
“Peter did a nice job,” Huggins said. “He battled back. Whether he gave up two runs, one run, three runs, we still didn’t hit. But he did a nice job, and I’m happy with his performance.”
Niskayuna 200 001 0 — 3 3 3
Mohonasen 000 000 0 — 0 2 4
Gabriele and Toy; Konrad, Cannon (6) and Turck.
Categories: High School Sports
