Game Summary

Knights Defeat League Newcomers, The New Hyde Park Tigers!

In a rematch of excellent games from each of the past 2 Cooperstown Tournaments (an 11 inning Greg Holmes win in 2001 and an 8-5 Knights loss that left the Knights with 8 players and Bobby Gruttadauria with a broken wrist), the Knights faced off against the New Hyde Park Tigers. Greg Holmes took the mound and despite hyper extending his left knee, pitched a complete game allowing only 2 earned runs while scattering 10 hits.

The game went into the fourth inning with no runs being scored as both teams defense produced some sensational plays. In the top of the fourth Tommy Reilly hit possibly the furthest ball every seen by either team, but with the right fielder playing past where a fence should be Tommy was held to a stand-up triple. Bobby Gruttadauria singled Tommy in giving the Knights the lead, but the Knights weren't done yet. Hector Rolon and Richie Cave singled, Mike Hacker was hit by a pitch, Paxton Provitera and Pete Alfano walked all leading to a total of 5 runs in the inning.

The Tigers were far from done as they scored 3 in the fifth and 2 in the sixth to tie the game at 5, but the Knights weren’t going to let a 5-0 lead turn into a loss. In the top of the seventh, after being informed that this would be the last inning, the Knights loaded the bases with a John Bosch walk, a Bobby Gruttadauria single and a Hector Rolon walk. After two good at-bats ended in outs without bringing a run home, Paxton Provitera stepped to the plate. The Tigers must have sensed the grand-slam that was on its way, so they decided to walk him instead figuring they would be able to score 1 easier then 4. After Paxton's walk forced in the game leading run, Pete Alfano singled in 2 insurance runs and Greg Holmes closed out the game with an 8-5 victory.

Knights Knotes:
* Player/Manager Paxton Provitera is yet to have a hit this season (0 for 5), but he is tied for On-Base-Percentage lead with Tommy Reilly at .538!!!

Linescore: (15)
1234567RHE
NY Knights 0 0 0 5 0 0 3 8 7 2
New Hyde Park Tigers 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 5 10 2
WP - Holmes, Greg (2-1)
LP - Fisher

Knights Boxscore:
3B: Reilly, Tommy (1);
RBI: Provitera, Paxton 2 (3); Cave, Rich (8); Gruttadauria, Bobby (15); Alfano, Pete Jr. 3 (11);
SB: Rolon, Hector (2); Gruttadauria, Bobby (7);
Batter AB R H RBI BB K AVG
Alfano, Pete Jr. 3 0 1 3 2 0 .375
Urtnowski, Mike 5 0 0 0 0 2 .282
Reilly, Tommy 4 1 1 0 0 0 .359
Bosch, John 3 1 0 0 1 1 .250
Gruttadauria, Bobby 3 2 2 1 1 0 .435
Rolon, Hector 3 2 1 0 1 0 .375
Cave, Rich 4 1 2 1 0 0 .255
Hacker, Mike 2 1 0 0 2 1 .368
Provitera, Paxton 1 0 0 2 3 1 .000
Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Holmes, Greg 7.0 10 5 2 2 5 2.37