#3 ERL vs. #6 NY Dragons

The Backstory: There is not a ton of notable shared history between these two clubs.

ERL competed in its first MAW tournament way back in June 2017 while the Dragons entered the circuit on a full-time basis at the start of the 2020 spring/summer season. Current ERL member Rob Longiaru played for the Dragons in 2020 and 2021 in MAW, while ERL captain Connor Young took Dragons’ right-hander John Polanco under his wing before Polanco began playing in MAW on a full-time basis in 2020. ERL has pretty much dominated the games between these two squads since they have both been MAW tournament regulars.

The 2022 Story: ERL finished the open tournament season with a 19-7 record (.731) in five tournaments entered. They kept their streak alive of being the only team to win at least one tournament in each of the six years MAW has operated by beating Voodoo in Millersville, Maryland over Memorial Day weekend to win the Battle by the Bay. It has been somewhat of a down season for the two-time Mid Atlantic Champions who find themselves in the less-than-ideal position of playing in the first round at the Championship Tournament and made tournament finals just twice in 5 attempts. ERL missed a rare tournament this season, but even if they had competed at the Steel City Showdown in July, it is not a guarantee that they would have passed Voodoo for the two seed. The addition of Rob “Wiffman” Piervinanzi gives ERL a nightmare-inducing hitting duo with Wiffman & Kenny Rodgers Jr., but the two were only on the field at the same time for a pair of tournaments this year.

For the Dragons, 2022 was another year of grinding out tournaments often with a short-handed roster. The Dragons’ best showing during the regular tournament season came in July at Pittsburgh’s Highmark Stadium where they went 3-0 in pool play before losing in the quarterfinals to the Great Lakes Legion. Perpetually short-handed, it was not until the Wild Card tournament Labor Day weekend that the Dragons FINALLY got something resembling a full roster onto the field. Once they did – with a four-man roster of Nick Lea, Mike Bucci, John Polanco, and Frankie Campanile – they looked like a completely different club. The Dragons terrorized the rest of the Wild Card tournament field, going 5-0 and defeating each of the other 4 teams at least once on their way to winning their first ever MAW tournament.

On Offense: Wiffman and Kenny Jr. are as formidable of a one-two offensive punch as you will find anywhere in Wiffle®Ball. If they get into a groove, that’ll be trouble for the Dragons who cannot necessarily pitch around that duo with Young, Mike Stiles, and Johnny Costa lurking elsewhere in the lineup. ERL has the option of batting three sometime during the tournament, but it seems likely they’d run with a four-man lineup at least early both to give themselves a full defense and because there are no obvious players to sit on this roster. Young has come up big multiple times throughout the years at the Mid Atlantic Championship, while Stiles is becoming a better fast pitch hitter every time he steps onto the field.

The Dragons’ Wild Card Tournament win was fueled by great at bats and key hits against quality pitchers like Tyler Nachbar, Dave Capobianco, and Colin Prentiss. The Dragons used a 5th inning comeback capped off by a Frankie Campanile grand slam to beat Nachbar & the Longballs. Campanile, Polanco, and Bucci all homered off Cap to push the Dragons by the Risers, while a walk off solo shot by Campanile against Colin Prentiss in Game #1 of the Wild Card Championship Series was the difference in that one. If Frankie can carry his hot hitting over to the Championship Tournament – and there is little reason to believe he can’t as he has consistently been one of the more consistently clutch hitters in MAW for several years – that could be trouble for ERL’s pitchers. While Frankie might be the most dangerous hitter in the Dragons lineup at the moment, ERL might not necessarily be able to work around him with Bucci and Lea providing Frankie protection.

On Defense: The Dragons offense might have been the story of the Wild Card Tournament, but their pitching wasn’t too shabby either.

Nick Lea recovered from some early control issues against the Longballs to pitch a 4-inning shutout the rest of the way and allow his bats time to get going. He followed that up with a shutout of the Risers to get his team into the Wild Card Championship Series versus the Goon Squad. That’s when Polanco took the ball and delivered 10 straight shutout innings versus the solid Goon Squad offense in what was easily his best pitching performance at a MAW tournament. Polanco’s stuff has never been in question, but he has been the victim of some poorly located pitches to the wrong batters at the wrong times. That was not the case Labor Day weekend. John kept the ball out of the middle of the zone and meticulously aimed for his spots, even if that meant allowing a walk or two in the process. Lea & Polanco certainly are capable for pitching the Dragons passed ERL in the opening series if they pitch like they did two weeks ago.

The Dragons have a little pitching depth beyond those two. Bucci has been serviceable this year and Wyatt Zuspan could eat up a few innings if needed, although it is likely those two will only be thrust into action in the ERL series in mop up duty or an emergency. Polanco and Lea got the Dragons this far and there is no need to go in another direction right now.

ERL will have its full roster this weekend which means they have upwards of four arms to choose from in the opening series and throughout the day. ERL won’t be looking passed the Dragons to the semi-finals by any means, but it would be foolish not to dismiss the idea that they would love to reach the semi-finals with Connor being completely or mostly fresh. If ERL can make it deep into the tournament, it’s a lock that at some point they will hand the ball over to Stiles to go the rest of the way. However, they’d probably like to avoid doing that until at least a clinching game versus Voodoo. That means they’d likely need to get at least one game from Connor in the semi-finals.

Which is all a long way of saying that ERL could choose to go with Longiaru and/or Costa for one or even two games versus the Dragons. It would be a risk for sure – pitching two guys who have only worked lower pressure pool play games this season in a major post-season series. If it paid off, however, it would put ERL in much better shape for the semi-finals and finals, should they reach those.

Neither team is a world beater defensively, but both tend to make the routine plays most of the time. Connor has turned himself into an above average defender and Kenny Rodgers Jr. doesn’t let much get passed him in the infield. All 5 members of the Dragons have solid hands and can make the routine throws but are prone to an errant throw every now and again.