The South Troy Dodgers 17 and 18-year-0ld teams combined for four complete games on Saturday in the American Amateur Baseball Congress Connie Mack World Series North Atlantic Regional tournament on Saturday at Geer Field, but only the 18-year-old team advanced to the championship round.

Robert Tedesco fired a complete game, one-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Connecticut Bombers for the 17s, while Kyle LaValley tossed a gutsy six-inning complete game effort in a 4-2 loss to the Brooklyn Bonnies Cougars later in the afternoon.

"We didn’t execute when we had to and that’s what it came down to," said South Troy 17s manager Doug LaValley. "It was a great game. I couldn’t be prouder of these guys."

"At the beginning of the year, we really couldn’t hit the ball and at the end, we were stroking it," said pitcher Kyle LaValley. "We just have hitters. Matt Roth was great in the last tournament, Tyler Young stepped up in this one and Tedesco was throwing perfect. He was untouchable. Everyone else molded together and we worked together and tried our hardest and today was just one of those days when it slipped away."

The 17s came a long way from some early season struggles to win the Upper New York State tournament and earn a berth in the regional. Their showing did not disappoint and in fact, helped some of the Dodgers players make a name for themselves as players to watch in the future.

Tedesco was lights-out for the Dodgers and was amazing the first time I saw him pitch this season for Mohonasen High School in a victory over the No. 1 seed Lansingburgh Knights in the Section II Class A opening round, an upset for the No. 8 Mighty Warriors.

He pitched eight scoreless innings to lead the Dodgers to an epic 16-inning victory over the Lansingburgh Royals in the Connie Mack open qualifier earlier in the month and defeated South Colonie twice in the Upper New York tournament - allowing only one earned run - to lift them to the regional. He'll be quite the pickup for the Siena College Saints next season.

Roth and Young were certainly impressive in the lineup, but middle infielder Sean Geisel swung a great bat for the Dodgers this summer, too. He'll be a senior next year at Guilderland and as he continues to improve by leaps and bounds, will be a tough out this fall and next spring for the Dutchmen.

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The 18s did not disappoint for fans of do-it-yourself pitching performances.

Kevin Scrobola (right) and catcher Tom Murphy combined yet again for a great game Saturday against the Connecticut Bombers.

Scrobola pitched a complete game shutout in a 5-0 victory, mirroring Dave Roseboom's effort in a 2-0 victory over the Long Island Titans earlier in the day.

"The pitchers pitched great," said South Troy 18s manager Kevin Rogers. "Kevin pitched a great game and Dave pitched great earlier. This team is hungry. They’re ready to play baseball. We came here with a mission and we’re going to try to knock this down tomorrow."

After the games, Roseboom and Scrobola had nothing but high praise for University at Buffalo-bound catcher Tom Murphy, who did the dirty work behind the plate in both games.

"Having somebody behind the plate like that, like Murph, he’s a big mentor to me," Roseboom said. "He always tries to get inside your mind and say things he knows will calm you down."

"It’s something special," Roseboom continued. "A catcher like that, he’s a pitcher’s dream. He has such an arm behind the plate, you don’t feel like you have to rush it. He throws guys out."

"He has a good bat too," Scrobola said, "so we’d be at a loss without him. We need him. He’s a good ballplayer.

South Troy, undefeated in the tournament, faces one-loss Brooklyn Bonnies Cougars at 10 a.m. at Geer Field. A victory punches the Dodgers’ ticket to the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M. A defeat in the first game sets up a do-or-die championship tilt against Brooklyn at 1 p.m.

Check out the full scoop on the games in Sunday's edition of The Record. We'll have full coverage of the finals in the Monday edition.

"It’s right there for the taking for us," said Chris Sand, a four-year player in the Dodgers organization. "As a team we’re handling it well, because we have a lot of mature guys and they know how to win. Any time you know how to win, you have a shot."

The Dodgers had one mantra early in the day on Saturday: "We're on a mission."
After the last game, it turned into: "One win away."

Sunday’s Schedule
2009 AABC Connie Mack North Atlantic Regional
Championship Round at Geer Field

South Troy Dodgers 18s vs. Brooklyn Bonnies Cougars, 10 a.m.
Game 2 (if necessary), 1 p.m.

Saturday agate

SOUTH TROY (17s) 2, CONNECTICUT BOMBERS 0

South Troy 000 002 0 – 2 6 0
Connecticut 000 000 0 – 0 1 2

SOUTH TROY (18s) 2, LONG ISLAND TITANS 0

Long Island 000 000 0 – 0 3 0
South Troy 000 200 x – 2 7 2

BROOKLYN BONNIES COUGARS 4, SOUTH TROY (17s) 2

South Troy 110 000 0 – 2 5 1
Brooklyn 000 103 x – 4 3 2

South Troy (18s) 5 , Connecticut 0

SOUTH TROY 18s CONNECTICUT
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Charron lf 3 0 0 0 Guarnieri cf 3 0 0 0
Cogswell ss 2 1 1 0 Rodriguez ss 3 0 1 0
Brennan cf 3 1 1 1 Moss c 3 0 1 0
Murphy c 3 1 1 1 Bickford 1b 3 0 0 0
Anderson 1b 4 0 1 2 Van Zant 2b 2 0 1 0
Carmona 3b 4 0 2 1 Judge 3b 3 0 0 0
Sand dh 3 0 0 0 Manke lf 3 0 0 0
Fish rf 3 1 1 0 Texeira dh 2 0 1 0
Sportman 2b 2 1 1 0 Schierholtz rf 2 0 1 0
Totals 27 5 8 5 Totals 24 0 5 0
South Troy 18s ...................................003 100 1 - 5 8 0
Connecticut ..................................000 000 0 - 0 5 1
E-Moss. LOB-South Troy 18s 7, Connecticut 6. DP-South Troy 18s 2 (Cogswell and Anderson Scrobola, Cogswell and Anderson). GIDP-Guarnieri, Van Zant. 2B-Cogswell, Carmona, Murphy, Schierholtz. SB-Cogswell, Murphy. Sac.-Charron, Sportman.
South Troy 18s ip h R erBB SO
Scrobola, W 7 5 0 0 2 5
Connecticut ip h R er BB SO
Blanc, L 4 7 4 4 2 3
Soulier 3 1 1 1 1 3
WP-Blanc 2, Soulier. HBP-Cogswell (by Blanc), Van Zant (by Scrobola).