Tremley Walks Off with Sweep for MCC
Tremley Walks Off with Sweep for MCC
Sophomore Homers on First Pitch in Extra Frame; Levchuk Complete in Game One
MANCHESTER – Sophomore Andrew Tremley (Bristol) drilled the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning over the fence in right-center to give Manchester CC (4-6) a 3-2 victory and a doubleheader sweep over Eastern Connecticut’s JV (1-3) Tuesday night at Cheney Tech.
MCC cruised to a 12-4 victory in the matinee behind a complete game effort from Brian Levchuk (Branford), who scattered five hits over seven innings for his first collegiate victory.
The sweep concluded a stretch of eight games over four days (4-4) for the Cougars, who strung together two straight victory for the first time this season.
“We just needed to get the ball rolling a bit,” MCC head coach Chris Strahowski said. “Have the guys believe in each other a little bit and pick each other up. It’s fantastic.”
The homerun was the first at MCC for the utility player who is comfortable at any position on the diamond and first for the Cougars in ten games this season. The NJCAA changed to a composite bat that restricts the distance the balls travel, making the homerun is even more impressive.
“He needs be a little more aggressive at the plate, to get a little closer to the plate and take a good swing,” Strahowski said of Tremley, who entered the game at second base in the sixth inning. “His power is right where he the ball, center, right-center, so he just had to get in position to do that.”
Tremley tossed his helmet after touching second base, rounded third with both hands on his head, and disappeared into a crowd of teammates after touching home plate.
“I was looking for a fastball down the middle of the plate and that is what I got,” the lefty swinging Tremley said. “I was glad to be able to do something with it. I knew off the bat that it was going to go far, but I wasn’t sure it was going to get over, but luckily it did.”
Tremley made a winner out of Sam Cooke (Meriden) who struck out two over two scoreless innings. Justin Sitaro (Rocky Hill) started the game and allowed just one run on two hits in four innings while Tyler Kapushinski (New Britain) struck out four in two innings of relief.
In the first game, Jesse Sutherland (Montville) was 4 for 4 with double, a stolen base and three runs scored. Alec Brown (Montville) had three singles, scored three runs and drove in three others in support of Levchuk, who impressed his coach with a strong mound presence.
“He threw real well,” Strahowski said of Levchuk, who pitched in the American Legion World Series in Spokane, Washington for Branford Post 83 last summer. “He is going to be a guy who we need to give us quality innings during the week and if he keeps having outings like that, he will be a guy we can use in relief in the conference games.”
MCC will travel to Sewell, NJ to play 2010 NJCAA Division III National Champion Gloucester CC in a doubleheader Saturday, then play perennial power Suffolk CC (Suffern, NY) on the road Sunday. The Cougars are scheduled to open their Region 21 schedule at McCormick on campus Tuesday, March 22.
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