Pulling the plug: Cogan Electric loses opener in AAABA Tournament
AAABA Baseball Tournament
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CRESSON -- Since joining the field for the All American Amateur Baseball Assocation's national tournament back in 1946, the New Orleans entry has established a venerable tradition of success in the event.
In 75 appearances, the Boosters have won 18 tournament championships and finished second 31 other times.
If Monday's opening-round 18-1 New Orleans mercy-rule rout of Altoona's Brent Cogan Electric team on the Mount Aloysius College baseball field is any indication, the Boosters are primed to make another run at the tournament championship trophy later this week.
The Boosters mashed out 18 hits and put up seven first-inning runs to take a 7-0 lead and put a big down payment on the victory in a game that was stopped after 6½ innings.
Second baseman Joe Monaghan led the New Orleans batting attack with three hits, three RBIs, and three runs scored. First baseman Will Delaune also collected three hits, scored three times, and drove in two runs for New Orleans, which saw nine different players on its roster hit safely in the game.
Shortstop Reed Duthu and catcher Josh Hoffman both had two-hit, two-RBI games for the Boosters, who sent 12 men to the plate in the first inning and again in the fourth inning, when they scored six runs on seven hits.
"We have a good lineup, and the guys all through the lineup give us good at-bats over-and-over,'' said veteran New Orleans manager Doug Faust. "There are no weak spots in our batting order - our lineup is pretty balanced throughout, and that's why we were able to do what we did in that first inning.''
New Orleans had six first-inning hits, with designated hitter Cooper Smith and first baseman Will Delaune both collecting two-run singles, and Hoffman, Tyler Kirklin and Duthu each producing a run-scoring single.
"They had a few dinkers today, but overall, they hit the ball very well,'' Cogan Electic manager Tommy Williams said of the New Orleans team. "They had 18 hits -- they get their bats through the strike zone very well. They're really good.''
Monaghan's two-run double keyed a six-run fourth inning for New Orleans in which the Boosters wrapped out seven hits to take a 17-1 lead.
Three New Orleans pitchers limited Cogan Electric to a total of just five hits. The only run scored by Cogan Electric came on Owen Dombrosky's RBI groundout in the third inning.
New Orleans last won the AAABA national championship back in 2022 but has been a top dog in the tournament for well over seven decades.
"Every group is a new group,'' said Faust, whose team plays Columbus at Johnstown's Roxbury Park in a second-round game today at 10 a.m. "We're trying to carry on the tradition of our program here, and make another deep run in this tournament.''
It will be back to the drawing board at 10 a.m. this morning for Cogan Electric, which meets Zanesville in the second round of pool play in a game that will be played at St. Michael.
"We're here to win our next two games (and advance out of pool play into Thursday's quarterfinal round),'' said Williams, who is in his first year as a manager in the AAABA national tournament after previously serving as the head baseball coach at Bishop Guilfoyle Academy. "We won't give up, we'll keep fighting, and we'll try to make every game a (good) game.''
ALTOONA COGAN ELECTRIC (1): Rother ss 200, Dombrosky 1b 200, Negola cf 201, McAllister eh 300, Freiwald 2b 301, Williams 2b 300, Chirdon p-dh 201, Dixon ph 100, Foster c 201, Marko ph 100, Yost rf 210, Eberhart lf 201. Totals - 25-1-5.
NEW ORLEANS (18): Duthu ss 422, Contanni 3b 322, Monaghan 2b 333, Hoffman c 412, Melancon rf 511, Randol lf 310, Arencibia p 000, Smith dh 422, Kirklin eh 321, Delaune 1b 333, Denny 100, Bourgeois cf 312. Totals - 35-18-18.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Cogan Electric 001 000 0--1-5-2
New Orleans 713 601 X--18-18-0
E--Freiwald, Williams. 2B--Smith, Monaghan. RBI--Dombrosky, Monaghan 3, Duthu 2, Smith 2, Delaune 2, Hoffman 2, Contanni, Melancon, Kirklin, Bourgeois. HBP--Monaghan (by Chirdon); Denny (by Ross). LOB--New Orleans 13, Cogan Electric 7.
PITCHING
New Orleans: Arencibia 4IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 5SO; Wascom 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1SO; Kragle (W) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1SO.
Cogan Electric: Chirdon (L) 3IP, 10H, 10R, 9ER, 5BB, 2SO; Keister 2/3IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 2SO; Ross 2/3IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 2SO; Peterson 1 1/3 IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 0SO; Foor 1/3 IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0SO.
Umpires: Pete Jones (plate); Craig Knupp (bases).
Records: New Orleans (1-0); Cogan Electric (0-1).