What a game! Trailing 4-3 in the 10th inning against likely Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Year, Tim Ingram, the Farmingdale Rams mounted a two-run rally and won on a walk off error to force a do-or-die championship game.
It was a back-and-forth game that was ultimately decided on Old Westbury‘s third error of the game.
Farmingdale took a 2-0 first inning lead on an RBI double sliced down the right field line by Nick Osburn to score Mike Marino and Tom Rydzewski.
Old Westbury chipped away–they scored once in the third on an RBI single by Eddie Hernandez and tied it up in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Brandon Stein.
Matteo Gaudio scored on an error in the seventh inning to give the Rams a 3-2 lead.
The game would stay tied until the ninth when the Panthers loaded up the bases and closer Alex Pangourelias uncorked a wild pitch to score Joey Walsh, who reached on a single and a two-base error by Mike Marino.
In the top of the tenth, the Panthers loaded the bases up and Head Coach Keith Osik called upon Saturday’s starter Kevin Martinez to put out the fire. He hit Walsh on his first pitch to put the Panthers ahead.
In the bottom of the 10th, ace Tim Ingram came in looking to lock down the save. He walked Marino on a 3-2 count to put the tieing run on base. On the first pitch, Marino stole second. Osburn smacked an 0-2 pitch deep into left center field to tie up the game and send the crowd into a frenzy. On the pitch before, he was hit in the shoulder but the umpire called it a strike for leaning over the plate.
After an intentional walk, a sac bunt and another intentional walk, Charles O’Neil hit a chopper to third base which was directly over the bag. The third baseman caught it but had no angle to throw it home and it sailed towards the first base side. The catcher could not reach it and the Rams walked off winners.
They had now won three consecutive elimination games, needing just one more to shock the No. 2 ranked Panthers.
Kevin Martinez was awarded the win despite allowing the go-ahead run to score. Ingram was tagged with his third loss of the season.
