Dan Manning leads Georgetown to 7-3 Division 4 North quarterfinals win over Matignon

(Georgetown MA) Georgetown defeated #11 seed Matignon, 7-3, in a Division 4 North quarterfinals matchup on sunny Saturday afternoon.

The win puts the #3 seed Royals (14-7) into the D4 North semifinals for the second straight season.  This time around they’ll face #2 seed Boston International next Wednesday.

Senior Dan Manning had a big day for the Royals scoring twice, getting three hits, stealing two bases, and driving in two runs. The Georgetown catcher also gunned out two Warriors attempting to steal.

In defeating the Warriors (6-14), the home team took liberties on the base paths (two double steals) and advantage of Matignon wildness (four hit batsmen).

Georgetown had nine hits and bunched eight of their hits into the first three innings and took a 4-1 lead.

The Warriors totaled eight hits and had hits in six innings and left baserunners in each of those innings.  Georgetown starter Pat Slack (5 2/3 innings) allowed only two runs.

One of the baserunners gunned down by Dan Manning was JT Nichols in the first inning.  The inning started with Nick Valdario walking and JT reaching on 3B Kyle Nelson’s error.  Brian Raimo’s sacrifice fly got Nick to third.  That was when JT tried to steal and didn’t make it.  Cam Monagle followed with an RBI double to the fence in left.

Georgetown got that run back in the bottom of the first inning.  Two batters (Ben Noelk and Kyle Nelson) were hit by pitches and both moved into scoring position thanks to a well-executed double steal.  Pat Slack’s single to left brought Ben home to tie the score.  Matignon starter Jimmy DeAngelo limited the damage to one run by retiring Ryan Slack and Chris Chiklakis to end the inning.

The Royals took the lead for good with a run in the second.  Dan Manning singled to deep short and then stole second and third.  Kevin Terban’s hot shot over the third base bag scored Dan.

Georgetown picked up two more runs in the third.  Pat Slack, after nearly being doubled off first on his brother Ryan’s line drive to second baseman JT Nichols, was driven home on Chris Chiklakis’ shot to the fence in left.  When Chris tried to steal third the throw from catcher Kevin Olsen went past third allowing Chris to cross with the Royals fourth run.

Matignon (Catholic Central League) cut into their 4-1 deficit with a run in the fourth.  Tyler Hanlon singled to deep short and came all the way around on a double by Kevin Olsen to center.  CF Mike Goddu dove after Kevin’s long shot and just missed getting it.

Georgetown collected three runs worth of insurance in the 5th inning.  The first two Royals (Ryan Slack and Chris Chiklakis) reached and executed the team’s second double steal.  Later LF Tyler Hanlon rushed in on Dan Manning’s sinking line drive and had the ball one-hop off of him allowing both G’Town runners to get home.  Jared Fernandes came on to relieve Jimmy DeAngelo at this point.  A single (Mike Goddu) and a sacrifice fly (Colby Ingraham) produced Georgetown’s seventh and final run.

Matignon put a run on the board against the relief combo (Alex Bornholdt and Duncan Hough) in the final inning.  JT Nichols’ fielders choice tallied Jared Fernandes.

Weather?  After getting caught in the rain at Tewksbury yesterday I was leery of the clouds I saw today but the sun dominated the quick (less than two hours) game.

Mike McPherson hit into the rare 9-6 force out when Georgetown rightfielder Ben Noelk dropped a routine fly in the sixth inning but recovered to force Cam Monagle at second.

Georgetown third baseman Kyle Nelson chased a foul ball out of my sight into the crowd in the Matignon seventh.  It sounded as if Kyle introduced himself to a lawn chair but he quickly returned to the playing field.

Jared Fernandes and Cam Monagle paced Matignon with two hits each.

Mike Goddu and Pat Slack had two hits for Georgetown.

Georgetown boxscore

Matignon boxscore

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)