'Burgh beats Mechanicville in Colonial Council showdown

Behind T.J. McLaughlin and Jake Shaw, the Lansingburgh High School baseball team won an important Colonial Council baseball game Friday afternoon at Mechanicville, 5-2.

Lansingburgh High School senior pitcher T.J. McLaughlin spins through his windup during Friday's Colonial Council game at Mechanicville. McLaughlin pitched a complete game gem, allowing just three hits and striking out five in the 5-2 victory. (All photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

Jake Shaw had T.J. McLaughlin's back last season as the Lansingburgh High School closer and he supported his starting pitching Friday afternoon, too. This time, however, he did it with the bat.

Shaw, Lansingburgh's third baseman and cleanup hitter, broke a tie game with a two-run double down the left field line in the fifth inning, lifting the Knights to a 5-2 victory at Mechanicville High School.

On the mound, McLaughlin faced the minimum number of batters in six of the seven innings he pitched, running into trouble only in the third inning. He finished a masterful three-hit, three-walk complete game performance with five strikeouts.

"I wasn’t working hard enough and I ended up coming back with the bases loaded and no outs," McLaughlin said. "I had to come through and I did. The defense played really well and Jake Luce did a great job behind the plate."

McLaughlin used a filthy mix of his fastball and curveball, throwing first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 26 batters he faced. He threw 31 pitches in an adventurous third inning, but was highly economical the rest of the way, never throwing more than 14 pitches in any of the six other innings in which he pitched.

"I knew he (McLaughlin) had it," said Shaw. "I was making jokes here and there about coming in and taking it from him, but he had it."

Lansingburgh's sophomore left fielder, Ryan McGrath, heads to the bench in front of head coach Joe Henkel after being tagged out at home trying to score on a wild pitch in the first inning.

Lansingburgh played some tough non-conference games to open the season, but a large contingent of players, including McLaughlin, Shaw, Mark Tracey and Jake Luce, were battling nagging injuries and rounding into baseball shape.

The Knights (7-1, 7-4) trail Colonial Council leader Schalmont (8-0, 10-2) by one game after one turn through the regular season schedule, but insist they are just now showing their potential.

"They’re starting to understand the game, in that you have to study the pitching on the sidelines during the game and see what the guy has to throw and expect it a little bit," said Lansingburgh head coach Joe Henkel.

It should be an exciting race to the finish in the Colonial Council yet again in 2010.

Frank Castiglione, Lansingburgh's leadoff hitter and second baseman, makes a throw to first base during Friday's game. He doubled, singled, scored a run and drove in a run, adding three assists and one putout in the field.

Mechanicville (5-3, 7-4), even with Friday's loss, has much to be proud for after one half of the 2010 season is complete. Sophomore starting southpaw Sam DeCelle is going to be one of the area's top pitchers for years to come as he fills out and adds some velocity to his fastball to go along with his already knee-buckling hook.

"We were petrified coming up here because it was the third day in a row on the road for us and we’re at their park and we knew we were facing DeCelle," Henkel said. "We worked the last couple of days on taking outside pitches and taking the ball to right and getting a pitcher like him up in the pitch count. He threw a great game and he had some great plays behind him on the field, too."

Third baseman Adam Kraszewski and catcher Mike Hipwell both made a pair of nice defensive plays behind DeCelle as well.

"Adam made two great plays," said Mechanicville head coach Tom McBride. "He's rotating in at our DH spot and he was the guy rotated out today. But he's been hitting well, too. He’s been phenomenal at third base and he made two plays today that were really, really nice."



Check out Saturday's edition of The Record for the full story, as well as the annual Uncle Sam Softball Tournament preview.