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| Maitles striking out White to end the game. |
With Smithtown East‘s lead dwindling in the fourth inning, Head Coach Ken Klee called on senior Greg Maitles to preserve the lead.
He went on to pitch the rest of the game, not allowing a run while striking out four to preserve Smithtown East’s 6-4 win to force a deciding third game in the semifinals.
“It went exactly as planned,” said Maitles. “I couldn’t have planned it any better,” he added.
The big lefty relied on a heavy dosage of curves and change ups to keep the potent bats of No. 1 Connetquot off balance from the fourth inning on.
“I knew that a lot of them were dead-red hitters and I wanted to keep them off balance to get some groundballs,” Maitles said.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the third, Matt Milne reached on an error by the shortstop to get on to lead off the innings. After advancing on a comebacker to starting pitcher Travis Bruinsma, Matt DiPietro lined a single to put Smithtown East ahead 3-2. After consecutive singles by John Marti and Dylan Vetter–which brought in the second run of the inning, Nick Rizzo executed a perfect suicide squeeze on a fastball at his head to extend the lead to 5-2.
The Thunderbirds responded with two runs in the fourth inning thanks to an error and an RBI single by Steve Nissen off starter Pat Lagravinese, Maitles came on to put out the fire.
Both offenses went dormant from that point on. Bruinsma settled in and retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings.
Maitles threw a 1-2-3 fifth but got into a little trouble in the sixth inning After a one-out walk and a strikeout, he allowed a single to Marc Wangenstein to put the go-ahead run on base.
He buckled down and got Nissen to hit a come backer to retire the side and avoid any damage.
In the bottom half of the inning, Smithtown East made that hurt. After a one-out error through the third baseman’s legs, Lagravinese lined a single to center field to put runners on the corners.
Shawn Kelly hit a first pitch sacrifice fly to left field to extend the lead to 6-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dave Brehm hit a hump back liner up the middle that appeared to be a hit until Lagravinese made a tremendous backhanded play and jumping throw to nail Brehm by a hair.
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| Maitles escaping a sixth inning jam with 1-3 assist |
After a single by Brandon Morse and walk of Aaron Gagliano, Morse was nailed attempting to streal third for the second out.
With two outs, Maitles struck out Zach White to end the game and improve Smithtown East’s overall record to 20-3.
They will play tomorrow at Connetquot. The winner will take on Ward Melville for the Suffolk County AA title.
