Abbeville 29eres top Cap Cod

BY Steven Smith

Special to the Meridional

MOSES LAKE, Wash. -- On a hot afternoon in the Pacific Northwest, the Abbeville (La.) 29ers and Team Cape Cod (Mass.) did battle in a rough and tumble game at the Senior Babe Ruth World Series.

Rough and tumble, in more ways than one.

With temperatures hovering the mid-90s, the 29ers held on to post a 5-4 win over Team Cape Cod in pool play at the 16-18 year-old baseball tournament at Larsen Playfield. Both teams are now 1-2 in pool play, and both will need to win their next contests to stay alive for a berth to the trophy round that begins Thursday.

Team Cape Cod will take on Chaffey Baseball Club at 11 a.m. PDT Wednesday, while Abbeville faces Hammond, Ind. at 2 p.m. PDT.

The ending of the contest was marred by an incident that saw one player from each team get ejected after a physical play at home plate. Holding a one-run lead, and with pinch hitter Matt deGraauw at third base, Abbeville manager Steven Adams Jr. called for a suicide squeeze from his No. 2 hitter, Randy Frederick.

Frederick missed the ball as he squared to bunt, but deGraauw still headed for the plate. With the ball firmly in the mitt of TCC catcher Ken Destremps, deGraauw slammed into Destremps and was out twice – Destremps made the tag, and home plate umpire George Gonzales ejected deGraauw.

After the collision, several Cape Cod players headed to plate, and Destremps came off the ground ready to confront deGraauw. The umpiring crew kept the players apart, but Team Cape Cod shortstop Sean Adams, who came from his position on the field to home plate during the confrontation, was also ejected from the contest.

Cape Cod had taken a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an Abbeville error and an RBI-single from Jeff Speroni. Abbeville cut the deficit to one in the top of the third inning when R.J. Frederick walked, stole second and scored on a single by Randy Frederick, but TCC Speroni singled and scored on a hit by Destremps in the bottom of the same inning for a 3-2 lead.

Both teams added single runs in the fourth frame before Abbeville tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning behind a double by Mark Frederick. That set up a dramatic finish for the 29ers in the top of the seventh inning as Tony Frederick, who was hitting ahead of deGraauw in the Abbeville batting order, was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a TCC error.

Team Cape Cod got two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning before Abbeville managed to record the final out.

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