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| Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics |
For the entire season, Farmingdale was the team that found ways to escape jams, created runs from a hat and relied on a hint of magic.
Tonight, they were on the receiving end of a torturous way to lose a baseball game and end a season. They lost 6-5 to Kean on a wild pitch by Alex Pangourelias in the bottom of the tenth. He nearly escaped the jam after coming on in relief of Alex Weingarten with first and third with none out, but after retiring two batters, he uncorked one to end the game.
It was quite a wild ride. The Rama had leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-3 but the Cougars fought back each time.
The starting pitcher for the Rams, Matt Seelinger, was pitching on one day rest after starting Thursday night against Cortland. He was effective in escaping jams, but certainly pitched his way into trouble. He allowed nine hits and four walks in six innings while limiting the Cougars to three runs. His greatest Houdini act may have been in the sixth inning when he escaped a bases loaded jam to retire the side and keep the score at 3-3.
In the top of the seventh Tom Rydzewski lined an RBI double to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. Mike Marino followed with a come backer to the pitcher, who threw it away and made the lead 5-3. It looked like it could end that way, but in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Weingarten–who has been lights out to the tune of 1.60 ERA–was sabotaged by consecutive errors which set the stage for a bases loaded walk and a sac fly to tie the game.
The Rams had an opportunity to amend the defensive miscues but went down quietly in the ninth and tenth innings.
Kean had a lead off double in the ninth but squandered the opportunity after Weingarten induced two infield flies. In the tenth, he was taken out with first and third and none out. It ended up being his final appearance of the season.
The Rams finish at 27-13 while the Cougars are now 34-13. They also beat the Rams last week 10-1.
It is a difficult way for the Farmingdale seniors to go out, but they had a terrific season and fought hard all year.
