Canton's Chris Perkovich is tagged out at the plate by Salem catcher Brett Ramirez (photo by Ed Wright)

Red-Letter Day
Galanty's tater, Tidwell's gem
lead Chiefs over Rocks, 8-0

BY ED WRIGHT
April 12, 2010, 11:25 p.m.

  Home run-bashing baseball swings don't grow on trees, they grow on tees.

  At least, that's been the case for Canton senior slugger Joe Galanty.

  The right-handed-hitting designated hitter blasted his third home run this spring -- a two-out, two-run shot in the first inning -- to ignite the Chiefs' 8-0 victory over cross-campus rival Salem.

  Canton improved to 3-1 while Salem slipped to 1-3.

  "I set up a tee and a net in my basement this winter and went down there every day and worked on my swing," said Galanty, when asked for the formula for his power-hitting success. "I only hit one home run all last season, so my hard work is paying off."

  Salem starting pitcher Mike Weingrot nearly escaped first-inning damage when he sandwiched strikeouts around a Seth Tschetter single.

  However, Galanty sent a letter-high fastball over the left-center field fence to stake the Chiefs to a lead they would never relinquish.

  "If anybody deserves this kind of success, it's Joe," said Canton coach Mark Blomshield. "He was a bat boy for Canton when he was in fifth, sixth and seventh grades, so he's a Chief through and through. "

  As it turned out, Galanty's dinger would have sufficed the way senior starting pitcher Andrew Tidwell was throwing. Using a unique side-arm motion, he limited the Rocks to three hits in five innings.

  "I absolutely hate facing Tidwell in practice," Galanty said, smiling. "The way he comes at you from the side, it looks like the ball is going to hit you, then it cuts over the plate. I remember when he started sub-marining when we were on the junior varsity. He's really worked hard to perfect it."

  Two of Salem's four hits came off the bat of junior center fielder Brad Trublowski, the Rocks' No. 9 hitter who also added a stolen base.

  Also shining for the Rocks was senior relief pitcher Eric Lorber, who yielded just three hits and no earned runs in four innings of work.

  Canton doubled its lead to 4-0 in the second inning thanks to Chris Perkovich's RBI double, which scored Carter Staffeld, and Tschetter's two-out single that plated Ryan Bazner.

  The Chiefs added four runs in the fourth when Staffeld was hit by a pitch, Bazner walked and Perkovich laced his second double of the day, scoring Staffeld.

  Lead-off batter Kevin Delapaz then greeted Lorber with a long, but catchable, flyball to center that dropped in for an error, scoring Bazner and Perkovich. Cody Blakita delivered the final RBI of the day when he singled in Delapaz.

  Lorber yielded only a Bernabie Salinas single over the final three frames, but the the Rocks couldn't mount a rally against Delapaz, who retired six of the seven batters he faced after relieving Tidwell in the bottom of the sixth.

  Tschetter and Perkovich paced the Chiefs' eight-hit attack with two hits a piece.

  "I was happy with how we came out of the gates the first couple of innings, but I was a little disappointed we didn't put them away," said Blomshield. "When you get a good team like Salem on the ropes, you need to get a killer instinct. I've seen too many times when teams lose big leads like that because they put it on cruise control.

  "Overall, though, I was very happy with how we played."

  Ed Wright can be reached at (734) 453-1980 or info@plymouthcantonsports.com.

Senior Eric Lorber pitched well in relief for the Rocks, yielding no earned runs to Canton over the final four innings. (photo by Ed Wright)