Capellupo hurls 2-hit shutout, breaks Section V record

By PAUL GOTHAM

BRIGHTON, N. Y. — Not even a cut on the index finger of his throwing hand can slow James Capellupo.

The Hilton starter has made a habit of hanging zeroes on scoreboards where opposing runs belong, and he continued that trend Monday evening at Buckland Park.

Capellupo blanked Brighton with a 2-hitter as Hilton improved to 15 wins and 4 losses on the season with a 4-0 victory.

With Monday’s effort, Capellupo etched his name in the Section V Baseball record book with his sixth shutout of the season.

“It feels great; I’ve been putting in the work all off-season,” said Capellupo while crediting his catcher Joey Sanna who put in time as well in preparing for the season. “We were super-in sync come opening day. We expected to put up a lot of shutouts. I don’t know if we really expected this per se, but definitely expected to throw up a ton of zeroes.”

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A week ago, he hurled a no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Webster Schroeder (13-5). On Monday, Capellupo didn’t surrender a hit until two outs in the fourth – and that was an infield single. Leaning on his slider for an out pitch, the UMass-Lowell commit worked clean frames in the first, third, sixth and seventh. He struck out 13 without issuing a walk, retired eight straight to close the game and 10 of the last 11 batters faced. He did not allow a runner past second.

“I like to go fastball, breaking ball. With the fastball, I have a couple variations with a cutter or sinker. With the off-speed, I’ll throw a power slurve and then more loopy and sometimes a hard slider but variations with each one.”

Andrew Lenhard settles under the third out in the seventh. Hilton 4 Brighton 0 (final) pic.twitter.com/ZUzLprk7jO

— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 15, 2023

He was at his best in the second inning when a pair of infield errors put runners aboard with one out in what was then a scoreless game.

“You’d be lying if you said you weren’t upset after that. Kinda thought you should have an out and then you didn’t. After about two seconds, I think to myself these are my teammates. They did their best. They didn’t make the play and now they’re going to make the next one. I got to get back on the mound and get outs. That’s always the mindset: throw up a zero. It’s what got me to this point.”

He induced a ground ball for a fielder’s choice before ending the threat with a strike out.

“He’s very level-headed on the mound,” Hilton head coach Kevin Whelehan said. “He just takes his deep breath, and he tries to execute his next pitch. Whatever happened the previous pitch, he lets it go and do the best he can with the next itch. He’s really good at that.”

He improved to 7-0 on the season. His first outing was cut short in a 17-3 win over Rush-Henrietta when he struck out six and allowed one hit over four shutout innings.

“He’s got good stuff,” Whelehan said. “He’s a competitor. There are not many guys that compete at the level that he does. He competes every single pitch when he’s on the mound. It’s every pitch. You can watch him, and you can almost see it slow down for him. He takes a deep breath and he wants to execute that next pitch.”

Three-up, three-down for James Capellupo with two on strikes. ⁦@RiverHawkBB⁩ commit has 11 Ks on the day. Hilton 4-0 heading to the seventh. pic.twitter.com/07AkzyWRKc

— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 15, 2023

And a cut on his finger couldn’t get in the way of finishing what he started.

“I get so amped up when I’m pitching that I don’t really think about a ton of things. I’ve dealt with a couple injuries. I kinda get so fired up when I pitch, I don’t feel a lot. I just muscle through it. A lot of adrenaline.”

Hilton scored three runs in the third inning. Jeffrey Broadnax started the scoring when he brought home Michael Whelehan with a single. Broadnax scored on a Steven Kraus sacrifice fly. Brady Gerig singled and scored on a Michael Heise sacrifice fly. The Cadets added a run in the fourth. Capellupo reached on a one-out base hit, stole a couple bases and crossed home on a Broadnax sacrifice fly.

Kraus doubled and walked in two at-bats. Sanna was 1-for-3 with a base on balls. Andrew Lenhard and Nick McMahon finished with a single apiece.

Brighton’s Andrew Cranston struck out one and allowed six hits in a complete game. The senior right-hander walked four. Andrew Kotrides had a single. Ben Kazel doubled.

Jon Eckert (Lyons/2005) and Rob Reimer (Lyndonville/1984) previously held the Section V record with five shutouts. Reimer later pitched at Monroe Community College and was taken by the San Francisco Giants in the 1986 MLB Draft. He pitched one season with the Everett Giants of the Class A (short) Northwest League.