“Never having been in this situation before I had to look at this as a new challenge. What am I going to do, you always have to grow as a coach,” said Carcich. “After 22 years and never having been 0-3 to start off, I am looking at it as something new for me. The answer is going back to fundamentals; hitting, throwing, catching and all of that stuff.”

It has been the throwing and catching parts that have killed Emerson through the first two weeks of the season. The Cavos committed 15 errors in those three losses, including five in the final two innings against Ridgefield that turned a five-run lead into a 7-6 defeat.

Ramagli finally was finally able to corner a pitcher in the bottom of the third inning. Pal Park entered the frame with a 2-0 lead, but back-to-back singles by Kevin Crandall and Kevin Florio, the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the Cavos’ lineup, an RBI single by David Cassirer and a walk drawn by Dan Baker drew Emerson to within 2-1 and brought up Ramagli with the bases loaded an nobody out.

With nowhere to put him, Pal Park starter Marino Gelsathis could not afford to pitch around Ramagli and the senior responded by pulling his hands in on an inside pitch and lofting a double to the wall in left field that knocked in Florio and Cassirer. Jim Aramanda followed with a sacrifice fly that put the Cavos, and more importantly Dave Albanese, a junior who was making his first varsity start, up 4-2.

“It was nice to get an at bat finally with some runners in scoring position,” said Ramagli. “He left a fastball up, I was just trying to find something to hit hard somewhere and I got a good pitch to hit.”

Albanese worked himself into and out of trouble for most of the game. He allowed just four hits, but he walked six Pal Park hitters and stranded eight runners on base in his six innings of work. Albanese struck out five and only one of three runs scored against him (by Matt Tejada on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth) was earned.

Emerson added a run in the bottom of the fifth when DeCarlo drew a bases loaded walk and the Cavos then pulled away in the bottom of the sixth when they sent nine hitters to the plate and five of them scored.

“Even though we didn’t really sting the ball today, we don’t have a bad lineup. We have decent pitching and I might even go further than that. But our defense has been porous,” said Carcich, who despite the slow start, knows that nothing is yet lost for his team. “If you look at the team that beat us Ridgefield is 4-0, Park Ridge is 3-0 and Lyndhurst is 4-1. We didn’t get beat by schlemiels and I think we are just as good as those teams even if we may not have shown it yet.”

While Emerson’s early season struggles can be pinned to it defensive troubles, Pal Park is off too a 1-4 start with a variety of issues popping up. Gelsathis is the Tigers’ lone senior in the starting lineup and he, along with Dave Glavine, make up Pal Park’s pitching staff. The rest of the Tigers’ hurlers lack anything close to varsity experience. Anthony Albanese threw his first inning-and-two-thirds of the season, and freshman Reuben Biagiotti finished up with his first one-and-a-third varsity innings.

There are been some errors, a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position and all of the hallmarks of a young team trying to find its way.