DIV. II BASEBALL Niles topples Chaney for title

The Red Dragons posted an 11-3 win to advance to district play next week.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- Freshman pitcher Tom Kelly pitched the Niles McKinley High baseball team into the Division II district tourney.
Kelly (3-1) scattered six hits and struck out five Chaney Cowboys as the Red Dragons (13-10) captured the sectional championship, 11-3, Wednesday at Wilder Field.
Niles pounded out 13 hits off two Chaney pitchers and scored in every inning but the seventh as it advanced to next Wednesday's semifinal game against Poland at Cene Park.
"Tom [Kelly] has come a long way for us this season," Niles head coach T.C. Guarnieri said. "He's moved from the No. 3 man in the rotation to the No. 1 spot and his fastball has been the most lively of anybody on the staff.
"This was a good confidence builder for us today," Guarnieri said. "We're going to need it going into district play."
Split during season
Niles and Poland met twice during the Metro Athletic Conference season, with each team winning once.
"We beat them 11-1 in five innings here and then turned around and lost to them 11-2 at Poland," Guarnieri said.
Five Red Dragons shared the hitting honors by getting two hits apiece -- Matt Vince, Pat Fortune, Mike Ruscetti, Robby Porter and Joe Razzano. Fortune and Porter each had a double.
Niles took advantage of six Chaney errors in the contest.
The Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the first on a hit batsman, a single by Brandon Miller and an RBI groundout by Ruscetti.
They scored two more in the second on just one hit and two Chaney errors.
Big third inning
In the third, they sent eight batters to the plate and scored three more after Fortune led off with a double down the right-field line and Porter and Razzano added singles.
Niles had three hits and scored two more times in the fourth as Vince, Ruscetti and Razzano all singled. With the help of two more Chaney errors, the Dragons plated two more runs in the fifth.
Porter doubled to lead off the sixth inning and scored the final Red Dragons run on a wild pitch by relief pitcher Dave Baco.
Leading the Cowboys
Joe Morales had two of the six hits off Kelly while Matt Durkin doubled and scored Chaney's first run in the second inning.
The Cowboys rallied for two runs in the sixth with the help of two Niles errors and a pair of RBI sacrifice flies by Tom Sinchak and Durkin.
Losing pitcher Tom Enyert also had a seventh inning double for the Cowboys.
"We had 13 hits, but I wasn't happy with our hitting today," Guarnieri said. "We were really hitting the ball well before we had the week long rain and we came back cold, we are just starting to come around again."
This was the second straight sectional title for the Dragons, who finished runner-up in district play last year.
mollica@vindy.com