Gershkoff Auto Body – Auburn Post 20 used seven errors to its advantage to take the first game of a twin bill with West Warwick Post Two, 11-3, before notching a victory in game two, 4-2, at Cranston Stadium on Friday.

Gershkoff was led by the strong play of leadoff man and former Cranston East outfielder Michael Castillo. Castillo reached base three times, registering a walk, two singles and one RBI, and scored twice.

“Mike’s a leader,” Gershkoff manager David Schiappa said. “Mike’s one of those guys that’s going to have to lead this team. This is his third year on the team, he’s been playing since he was a sophomore, so he’s going to be one of those guys that’s really going to be a sparkplug right from the top. Get the first hit, and it already energizes the team right from the get-go.”

Castillo did just that, starting the game off with a first-pitch, seeing-eye single to left-centerfield. Third baseman Nik San Antonio was hit by a pitch to move Castillo to second before both advanced on a wild pitch. Starting pitcher Dan Smith helped himself with an RBI groundout to short that brought Castillo across the dish and put Gershkoff on top, 1-0.

In the second inning, though, the wheels came off for West Warwick and Gershkoff pounced, plating nine runs with eight of nine starters coming across to score.

Once again, Castillo led the charge with a leadoff walk before it looked like San Antonio grounded out to short. Shortstop Daniel McManus fielded the ball cleanly, but fired it well wide of first base, allowing Castillo to score and San Antonio to reach second. San Antonio would eventually come around on two wild pitches to make it 3-0.

Smith reached on a dropped third strike and left fielder Harold Corniel got on by way of an error at third base, while both got into scoring position on Max Marcotte’s wild pitch.

The bats got going for Gershkoff after this point. First baseman Mitchell Carvalho picked up an RBI single to score Smith from third to bring home the fourth run. After Corniel scored on another McManus error, Gershkoff hit three consecutive RBI singles to break the game open. Right fielder Steve Piscopiello popped a single into right-centerfield for his first hit of the day, plating Carvalho. Second baseman Austin Alzate singled into right field and Castillo, up for the second time this inning, reached base again when he grounded a run-scoring single into centerfield to bring the lead out to 9-0.

“We just played like we always play,” Schiappa said. “They went up there hitting and they kept hitting. We don’t play down to our competition. For example, if someone’s having a bad night, we just keep hitting. So I think they did that. They just got a hitting streak going.”

San Antonio capped off the scoring after coming around for the second time in the frame. He reached on an error at second base before advancing to third on shortstop Travis Collins’ single. San Antonio scored on the second passed ball of the inning to give Gershkoff a double-digit lead.

West Warwick was not so fortunate on offense, failing to register a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning. Despite this, the team was able to plate two runs before the sixth. Right fielder Christopher Gaipo walked with one out and advanced to second when Marcotte was also issued a free pass to start the third. A fielder’s choice moved him to third before an Alzate error brought him around to put West Warwick on the board, making it 10-1.

Gershkoff once again extended its lead to 10 in the top of the fourth when Carvalho scored on another passed ball, but West Warwick wouldn’t let the game end early. Centerfielder Evan Barrera led off the fourth inning getting hit by new pitcher Nick Mendez. Two outs were recorded before he came around to score on an error and two wild pitches to bring his team out of the mercy zone, 11-2.

Neither team had much of an offensive spark in the final three frames. West Warwick picked up the sole run in the sixth after first baseman Tyler Boisclair scored on a bases-loaded walk with two outs.

Smith went three strong innings, walking two and striking out one, before Nick Mendez came in to pick up the win. Nick Mendez allowed one unearned run and struck out four to leave four West Warwick runners on base. Chrisdione Mendez also went two frames, striking out one and forcing West Warwick to leave the bases loaded twice.

“Dan hasn’t pitched in a while, a lot of these guys haven’t pitched in a while,” Schiappa said. “He pitched three innings there, but he was sort of running out of steam a little bit, too. It’s going to take him a while to get more innings, so we got some of our other guys in, some of our relievers in, which is a good thing with the lead we had.”

Gershkoff used its momentum to capture the second game of the set as well, 4-2, and needed less offense to do it.

Gershkoff has a busy week in store after hosting a doubleheader Tuesday with R & R Construction – Post 18 on Tuesday at Cranston Stadium, for which results were not available at press time. It will travel today to Old Mountain Field for a two-game set with South Kingstown Post 39 before heading home Friday for two more against East Bay/Riverside Post 10.