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  • Delweld second baseman Nick Barbera leaps over Omar Artsen of Brooklyn during the first inning of a AAABA Tournament game on Saturday night at Point Stadium. Artsen was safe on the play but stepped off the bag and was tagged out. Brooklyn won 5-0 to eliminate Delweld. Dave Lloyd

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August 16, 2009

No late heroics as Brooklyn eliminates Delweld

BY MIKE MASTOVICH

Two nights after his team squandered a five-run advantage to Delweld in the ninth inning, Brooklyn manager Jerry Katzke wasn’t taking chances on Saturday.

He went to his ace in relief and Brooklyn held off a spirited effort by the host Delweld squad in front of an estimated 4,000 fans at Point Stadium.

Brooklyn eliminated Delweld 5-0 in the 65th AAABA Tournament. On Thursday the Bonnie Rams blew a 5-0 lead but eventually won 6-5 in 12 innings.

“It was a great game for us,” Brooklyn’s Katzke said. “We couldn’t ask for more. We got really good pitching, timely hitting and we made all the plays.

“Our starter (Jorge Navarrete) did a great job. We were looking for enough innings from him to get deep in the game. The guy we brought in (Francisco Rodriguez) during the sixth inning was our No. 1 pitcher.

“We wanted to make sure we didn’t have the situation we had the other night. He won the first game of the tournament and we brought him back to make sure we could close out the game.”

Brooklyn (4-1) will play New Brunswick (4-1) at 1 p.m. today. The winner advances to meet New Orleans (5-1) in the title game later in the day. Delweld closed a solid 3-2 tournament.

“We accomplished what we set out to do,” Delweld manager Chris DelSignore said. “We had a target on our backs coming into the season being the two-time champions. We wanted to improve on what we had done. We went from third place in the regular season to winning the championship.

“We were able to win the playoffs and earn a spot in this tournament again. We were able to improve on last year (Delweld went 2-2 in the 2008 tournament). I can’t say that this wasn’t a success for us. These guys dealt with a whole lot this week. They stayed focused on the task at hand. I’m proud of this group and I’m proud to be their coach.”

Brooklyn did most of its damage with a three-run second inning. Sean McFadden and Xavier Velazquez had hits, with Velazquez driving in a pair. Alex Maldanado had a run-producing double. But two runs were unearned because of a bad-hop error early in the frame.

Byron White drove in a run with a single in the fifth, and Julian Delarosa singled and scored on Jonathan Tineo’s single in the eighth.

“I thought our pitchers did a good job,” said DelSignore, who started Matt Skoner (two innings) and used relievers Bobby Carbaugh (six innings) and Joe Novotny (one). “They didn’t hit the ball that hard. They got some things to fall and we didn’t. We had that one bad inning. That’s the way the ball bounces.”

Katzke agreed.

“We don’t really have any power as a team,” Katzke said. “We’ve only hit one homer in the tournament, and we’ve had few extra-base hits. The way we have to score runs is we have to bunt, we have to run and we have to get the hits in the right spots.

“Fortunately, in the two games against Johnstown, we got all the hits in the right spots.”

Brooklyn starter Navarette allowed two hits – one in the first inning and one in the second – while striking out three and walking five. Rodriguez ended a bases-loaded threat after he entered the game with two outs in the sixth, and he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth.

“Credit to their pitchers,” DelSignore said. “We don’t get fooled that often by a team twice. They had our numbers. We hit the ball well at times. We just hit it right at them.”

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