Prime Pub Keeps it in the Family with 15-12 Victory

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On Wednesday June 24, Prime Pub and the Horse and Hound had a rematch of last summer’s championship game at Onatru Farms Park. “We are the defending champs,” said James “Shamus” O’Connor of Prime Pub. But the Horse and Hound team jumped out early and then led late by six.  So the champs got to work and followed through with a sense of order.

“They know their place,” Alex Barbosa joked light heartedly, and a 15-13 Prime Pub victory made good on the playful boast.

The laughs there at the outset too, Horse and Hound chuckled with a pair walks to start the first rally. The last laugh then went to RBI singles by Brandan Scott and  Brian Powers. 

Out to a 2-0 lead, Prime Pub answered right back. Kevin Heis’ hard one hopper wasn’t handled at second base, and Brian Jones and Jim O’Connor followed with singles up the middle.

The lead cut in half, Troy Torres had no problem that the next pitch arrived in his wheelhouse.  On the inside part of the plate, he said, “it’s where I draw most of my power from.”

All tied with a single to left field, the Prime Pub wasn’t ready for last call on the inning. Jim Ciliberti went deep left to double in two more run, and Bobby Jones’ ground out to short extended the lead to 6-2.

The onslaught left Jake Kern undeterred regardless. The John Jay grad launched a triple into the left center field gap and came home on Nick DeFalco’s double. That was all, though and Prime had their pitcher to thank. One a shot back to the mound by Jay Jazwinski, Ciliberti got his glove up and ended the threat at first.

Onto the bottom of the second inning, Prime could not build off their pitcher’s nifty handiwork. They went down in order, so  the Horse and Hound guys dug in with their bats.  After Matt Corteen lined past third base for a double, Juan Reyes, Scott, Powers, Kern and DeFalco led the way with singles to take a 9-6 lead.

No reply from the home team, the visitors continued to exact revenge.  Corteen doubled in run number nine, Reyes singled up the middle for a four run lead, and Scott and Kern added singles for a 12-6 game.

Nonetheless, James O’Conner made the most of the low point in the game and his standing in the lineup. “I’m working my way up from the bottom of the order,” he said after his lead off bouncer through the middle.

Heis followed by pulling a single to right field, and after Reyes walked with one out, Torres played to his real strength. “You’ve got to be able to be able to hit it where they’re not,” he clarified, and his line single up the middle said as much.

Austin Barbosa’s sacrifice fly to left field got the Pub to within three and more was on the way in the bottom of the fifth. Five straight walks certainly simplified matters and made it a one run game.

Jones finally got the bat on the ball with a ground out to short that tied it up and Jim O’Connor’s single got the lead for good. Another groundout added one more and Austin Barbosa completed the scoring line with an infield hit.

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