Mars gains early lead in Eagle County title series
CALLERY — Mars has defeated Cranberry Township in the last three Eagle County League baseball championship series.
Cranberry tasted defeat in the teams’ four meetings in the regular season this summer.
Monday would have been a perfect time to reverse the trend and in doing so, allow Cranberry to grab an early lead in the best-of-five set that will once again determine the league champion.
Instead, Mars continued its dominance over Bill Clinefelter’s club.
Matt DeSalvo allowed just three hits to lead a 5-1 victory at Callery Field. Game 2 is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at North Boundary.
“We entered the playoffs with almost the same record,” Clinefelter said. “We lost to Mars in the final game of the regular season and they beat us (3-1) and that gave them the top seed.
“They have our number. We don’t really talk about it, but I hope our guys aren’t intimidated.”
Cranberry’s lone run of the game came in the top of the second inning. With one out, Jesse Clary singled and moved to second base on a fielding error. Two batters later, he scored on Brandon Solomon’s base hit.
The tally cut Mars’ lead to 2-1, but it would be the lone highlight in a frustrating evening against DeSalvo, who struck out six and walked three in earning the win. He did not surrender a hit over the final five innings of the game.
He set Cranberry (22-8) down in order in the third, fifth and sixth frames.
DeSalvo, 41, who had brief stints in the Major Leagues with the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees in 2007-08, has been taking the mound for Mars for well over a decade.
“He doesn’t strike out as many guys as he used to, but he’s a really smart pitcher and his pitches have as much movement on them as they did when he was 25,” said Mars player/manager Brendan Malone. “He had one bad game for us this season, his only one in the last several years.”
Mars (23-6) staked DeSalvo to an early lead when Malone singled in a run and Dave Lemley drove in another with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first off of Cranberry starter Alex Haevner.
Rick Devereaux made it 3-1 in the third with an RBI-single and Jim Pasquine’s run-scoring base hit was part of a two-run fourth.
“It was good to come out and hit the way we did,” said Malone. “They set us down in order once (in the second), but we hit the ball hard every inning against their best pitcher and that’s a good sign.”
Cranberry was playing without some of its top players, but Clinefelter is concerning himself with the ones who are in the lineup. The team has combined for just 10 hits in its last three games.
“He (DeSalvo) threw well, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen,” he said. “We’re just not hitting the ball well and we have to score more than one run to beat these guys.”
Cranberry Twp 010 000 0 — 1 3 0
Mars 201 200 x — 5 8 2
W: Matt DeSalvo 7 IP (6K, 3BB). L: Alex Haevner 6 IP (2K, 6BB).
Cranberry Township: Evan Oswald 1B, Jesse Clary 1B R, Brandon Solomon 1B RBI
Mars: Zach Murray 2-1B R RBI, Jim Pasquine 1B R RBI, Rick Devereaux 3-1B R RBI, Brendan Malone 1B RBI, Scott Ventura 1B R
Tuesday: Mars vs. Cranberry Township, Game 2, North Boundary Park, 6 p.m.
