Snappers playoff perfect

Beloit to play for first MWL crown since '95

By Rob Lucas
Beloit Daily News

After a sterling pitching performance on Saturday, Cole Devries had the Beloit Snappers knocking on the door of the Midwest League Championship series.

On Sunday, Rene Tosoni kicked the door in.

Tosoni's pinch-hit RBI double broke a 0-0 tie in the eighth inning as the Snappers beat the Clinton LumberKings 2-0 to advance to the MWL finals against the West Michigan Whitecaps who knocked off South Bend 6-5 on Sunday.

Tosoni, who was called up from Elizabethton after the Twins won the Appalachian League title, was just trying to control his nerves before his big hit.

“I was trying to calm down,” the 21-year-old said. “The plan was to get ‘Sing' (Steve Singleton) over to third and I missed my first pitch. Then ‘Smitty' (manager Jeff Smith) gave me a bunt sign which I took for a strike. All I thought is I couldn't go down now. It was pretty intense.”

After Tosoni made contact, there was only one thing on his mind.

“Stay fair,” he said before being face-washed with a plate of shaving cream. “It was hooking pretty good. I thought it might be foul.”

It was a terrific start from Devries that gave the Snappers a 1-0 series advantage. The Minnesota native threw a complete game four-hitter as Beloit won 6-1 Saturday night in Clinton.

“It was awesome,” Devries said. “To go nine innings in any game is a great feat, but to do that in the playoffs just made it that much more exciting.”

It was the best performance of the year for Devries, who struck out five and walked none.

“He pitched as good as he's pitched all season,” Smith said. “He had a three-pitch mix working on both sides of the plate. There weren't a whole lot of good swings off him and I was real encouraged by that outing.”

Devries said the pressure of a playoff game may have helped fuel his adrenaline and that's what allowed him to finish the game.

“When you are in the playoffs, you want to make sure you have your best stuff going,” said the Minnesota native. “I think it helped me that it was a playoff situation. For some reason I was just locked in that day and everything was working.

The Beloit offense had 11 hits on Saturday, but wasn't able to do much on Sunday against Kasey Kiker, who gave up three hits and struck out six in 5 2/3 innings.

“Kiker was unbelievable tonight,” said Smith. “He was throwing gas with nasty stuff. We didn't get much going against him.”

Beloit was finally able to get things rolling in the eighth inning when Steve Singleton led off inning with an infield single. Tosoni followed with his double and Chris Parmelee singled him home for a little extra cushion.

After Matthew Fox, Jose Lugo, and Aaron Craig keep the LumberKings off the board through eight innings, closer Anthony Slama was bull-rushed on the mound after striking out Tim Smith to end the game.

“Fox pitched real well; so did the relievers.” Smith said. “They did a nice job with the shut out.”

The game could have been very different had Matt Betsill not made a tremendous catch on a foul pop-up with two outs and two runners on in the third inning. Betsill raced toward the waist-high fence down the right field line on a pop-up by cleanup hitter Chad Tracy and, after catching the ball, toppled over the fence and somehow managed to hold on.

“That changed the game,” Smith said. “That was one of their best hitters and he took an at-bat away from them and who knows what would have happened if he didn't catch that.”

The way Beloit is pitching so far in the playoffs, it should enter the series against West Michigan as the favorite.

“Right now, as long as our hitters get the pitching staff a few runs of support, I don't see why we can't win the next three,” said Devries.

The series begins on Tuesday in West Michigan with Beloit sending Alex Burnett to the mound. Tyler Robertson will pitch game two with Devries pitching game three back at Pohlman Field in a possible clinching game, something Devries is waiting for.

“I would love that,” said Devries through a big grin.

NOTES: West Michigan won the MWL title last season. ...Joe Benson was 1-4 and is hitting .353 in the playoffs while Danny Santiesteban is hitting .375.