High School Sports: Baseball

They know there’s still a long way to go.

After all, the Portsmouth baseball team still is two games shy of the halfway mark in the regular season.

But nobody can blame the Patriots for being excited about what has happened so far in their inaugural season of Interscholastic League Division I competition.

It has taken only a month for all except two of the 28 Division I teams to have lost at least one game in league play. The only undefeateds going into yesterday’s action were Cranston West and Portsmouth.

Cranston West is the defending Division I state champion, and with some of the key members of last year’s state championship squad back in the lineup this season, it’s not surprising the Falcons are undefeated thus far.

On the other hand, Portsmouth is a newcomer to Rhode Island high school baseball’s big time, but apparently nobody told the Patriots’ newcomers that you usually need a little time to adjust to a higher level of athletic competition.

Sparked by the trio of John Sleeper, John Pedrotty and Ryan Westmoreland, the Patriots, last year’s Division II champions, have won their first seven Division I games. And while four of those victories have come against teams that were playing in Division II last year, the Patriots also have posted impressive triumphs over three long-time Division I stalwarts — East Providence, Cranston East and Coventry.

“I think we always believed we could compete at this level, and now it’s great to have the opportunity to show we can,” said Portsmouth coach Dave Ulmschneider.

Sleeper, a senior, and Pedrotty and Westmoreland, a pair of juniors, have been leading the way on the mound and at the plate.

The trio has combined for all seven pitching victories, and they also are the Patriots’ top three hitters.

Sleeper posted his third victory of the season on Wednesday when he led the Patriots to an 8-1 victory over Coventry with his third straight two-hitter. In addition to allowing only six hits in 21 innings, Sleeper has given up only two earned runs.

Even when he’s not on the mound, Sleeper has been making big contributions. In addition to his three mound victories, Sleeper went into Wednesday’s game as the Patriots’ top hitter, with 11 hits in 19 at-bats for a .579 average. He also has scored nine runs and driven in nine.

Not bad for someone who spent much of the last nine months on crutches recovering from two operations to mend a broken leg he suffered in an American Legion game last summer.

Both Pedrotty and Westmoreland have 2-0 pitching records and .500 batting averages. Sleeper, Pedrotty and Westmoreland had scored a combined total of 31 runs going into Wednesday’s game and driven in a combined total of 24.

“It has been a very good experience (playing in Division I). If we just play good baseball, we don’t worry about anybody else,” said Ulmschneider.

Big week ahead

Ulmschneider and the Patriots may not worry about any of their Division I opponents, but it wouldn’t be natural if they hadn’t been thinking about two of three games on next week’s schedule.

After playing Division I-East rival Barrington on Monday, the Patriots will travel to Cranston Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game with Cranston West. Then, on Thursday, Portsmouth is host to Hendricken, the team that has won six of the last nine Division I state titles.

“We are looking forward to them,” Ulmschneider said about the upcoming matchups with the two teams most people considered to be the preseason favorites for this year’s Division I state crown.

Back in the race

At the start of the week, Smithfield was ranked 27th among the 28 Division I teams, which meant if the regular season had ended on Monday the Sentinels would have been one of the four Division I squads that didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

But a 6-5 victory over East Greenwich on Wednesday put the Sentinels right back in the playoff race.

The big three

According to rankings compiled by Irv Scott, the Interscholastic League’s baseball record-keeper, the top three teams in Division I playoff seeding at the start of the week were Cranston West, Portsmouth and Cumberland, respectively. In addition to Cranston West and Portsmouth maintaining their undefeated records, Cumberland did its part to maintain its lofty ranking as the Clippers improved their record to 6-1 with an 8-4 victory over Chariho and a 7-3 triumph over East Greenwich this week.

Down a peg

Boston College High was the only New England team earning a spot in the USA Today East regional baseball rankings this week, but that probably will change next week because the Eagles were handed their first loss of the season by Catholic Memorial on Tuesday.

jgillool@projo.com