Behind Three Homers, Staples Baseball Pounds Warde

With the wind blowing out Monday, the Staples baseball field turned into a launching pad.

Ryan Burke, Mike Rustenmeyer and Grant Moss all hit home runs for the Wreckers, who pounded Warde by the football-like score of 21-11.

Burke and Rustenmeyer belted three-run homers while Moss added a solo shot for Staples (3-0), which has scored 37 runs in its last two games.

"We have a pretty good lineup," Staples coach Jack McFarland said, "but the ball was carrying."

With each team using pitchers at the back end of their rotations, Monday game's turned into a slugfest with six combined home runs. Kevin Callahan, Michael Garcia and John Galluci also went deep for the Mustangs.

Staples batted around twice, scoring eight runs in the second inning and nine in the third.

After Moss' homer in the bottom of the first opened the scoring, Callahan's three-run blast off Staples starter Justin Honigstein staked Warde to a 4-1 lead in the top of the second.

But Staples knocked out Warde starter C.J. Forcino in the bottom half, with Burke's homer capping the huge inning.

Forcino surrendered seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings, although only one of them was earned.

Despite the offensive fireworks, McFarland still says the strength of his team is its pitching, led by the Ivy League-bound tandem of David Speer (Columbia) and Jimmy Sikorski (Cornell).

Honingstein yielded seven runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 frames.

"Anytime we can win a game without David or Jimmy on the mound, we're very happy," McFarland said. "We knew today we were going to have to score some runs. We kind of patched together our pitching."

Staples broke it open in the third, when Tyler Jacobs, Moss, Brenstein Bernstein, Ben Lipper and Jack Hennessy delivered run-scoring hits.

Every regular in the Staples lineup had at least one hit, except designated hitter Dan Carbone, who was on base twice with a pair of walks. Lipper and Moss each had three hits and three RBI.

"I think Warde got caught up today with their three or four pitcher," McFarland added. "They got our three or four pitcher, so it became a little bit of a slugfest."

Trevor Doherty, Eric Burns and Don Warren each had two hits for the Mustangs (2-2).

Staples plays at McMahon on Wednesday, then visits Westhill on Friday in a rematch of last season's FCIAC championship game, won by the Wreckers.

"We played Masuk, who I would say is probably one of the top-10 teams in the state," McFarland said. "That score was 6-4, and every at-bat  and every situation was life or death. I think that's more how it's going to be toward the end, when you're facing a team's No. 1 pitcher -- some of the good teams, like Wilton, Ridgefield and Westhill, St. Joe's."