Shotguns Outslug Snap Dragons, Take Game 1 of Fall World Series
Both teams clubbed a whopping nine home runs
Nine North Carolina players combined for nine home runs as Gage Gillian and Angel Zarate’s Shotguns defeated Clemente Inclan and Caden O’Brien’s Snap Dragons 11-10 in a wild Game 1 of the Fall World Series on Friday at Boshamer Stadium.
Danny Serretti wasted little time getting the homer barrage started in the top of the first, launching a 440-foot blast over the left-field wall to give the Snap Dragons a 1-0 lead. As it turned out, that proved to be the Snap Dragons’ only lead, as the Shotguns pushed across six runs in the second on a bases-loaded walk, a three-run double by Colby Wilkerson and a two-run homer by Patrick Alvarez.
After Alberto Osuna smoked a two-run double to left-center in the top of the third, cutting the lead to 6-3, both offenses temporarily cooled off. But in the bottom of the fifth, Mac Horvath hit a two-run homer to left field, and Brandon Eike added a homer of his own an inning later to give the Shotguns their largest lead of the game at 9-3.
The Snap Dragons, however, didn’t go away quietly.
Thanks to a five-run seventh that included homers by Max Riemer, Johnny Castagnozzi and Inclan, the Snap Dragons pulled within a run. The Shotguns appeared to all but seal the win an inning later, when Tyler Causey and Hunter Stokely hit back-to-back solo homers. But even then, the Snap Dragons almost tied the game in the ninth, scoring two runs on an Inclan single before Gillian stranded runners on first and second to end the game.
Game 2 of the Fall World Series will be played at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Five who stood out
Serretti: The fourth-year shortstop turned in his best offensive performance of the fall, going 3-for-5 and falling a double shy of the cycle. He just missed a second home run in the fifth, when Causey – playing in left field – couldn’t come up with a deep fly ball that fell for a triple.
Osuna: The reigning National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Player of the Year is looking more and more like the dynamic addition the Tar Heels hoped he’d be. After homering twice in last week’s scrimmages, the Walters State transfer went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored Friday. His two-run double left his bat at 107 mph, and his ninth-inning single had an exit velocity of 108.
Alvarez: After going 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs, the third-year sophomore is 10-for-22 with four doubles, three homers and nine RBIs across the six games that I’ve attended this fall. At a certain point, this is more than just a hot streak.
Wilkerson: The sophomore went 2-for-4, joining Alvarez as the only Shotgun hitters to log multi-hit games. Wilkerson showed an aggressive approach in his first at-bat, jumping on a first-pitch fastball that he lined down the left-field line for his tone-setting, three-run double.
Caleb Cozart: After Alvarez homered to extend the Shotguns’ lead to 6-1 with one out in the bottom of the second, Cozart came in and slowed their momentum. The righty allowed one run on one hit over 2 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking two. The only run he surrendered scored after he gave up a double to the last batter he faced, Zarate, who came around on Horvath’s homer.
Other observations
Of the nine pitchers who took the mound Friday, Davis Palermo and Shawn Rapp were the only two who didn’t give up a run. Rapp surrendered one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Palermo pitched a scoreless eighth in which he allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two. Palermo’s fastball topped out at 97 mph.
Rapp did a good job fielding his position in the top of the eighth, when, after giving up a leadoff single, the lefty induced a grounder to Eike at first, sprinted to the bag and – looking like the high school first baseman that he was – made a nice stretch to catch the ball and complete a 3-6-1 double play.
UNC’s pitchers have mostly limited walks this fall, but they issued nine Friday. Snap Dragon starter Shaddon Peavyhouse walked three of the first four batters he faced in the Shotguns’ six-run second. He hit the other with a pitch.
Notable position placements: Vance Honeycutt, center field; Castagnozzi, first base; Will Stewart, right field; Riemer, left field; Zarate, center field; Causey, left field; Eike, first base; and Mikey Madej, right field. Osuna and Stokely were the designated hitters.
The Shotguns name is a reference to one of their captains, Gage Gillian. The Snap Dragons name, O’Brien said, is a reference to a curveball that he and Brandon Schaeffer have been toying with.