It’s been one of those seasons where nothing can stop Patch Dooley. Not even 30-40 MPH gusts of wind.
“This is probably the worst conditions we played in wind-wise,” said Hills East Head Coach Tim Belz following their 7-4 victory over League III rival Smithtown West. “It’s tough when the ball is moving back and forth, it makes it tough to throw strikes. Another dominating outing from him–no-hitter into the sixth inning,” he added regarding his pitcher who is committed to the College of Charleston.
Final: Hills East 7, Smithtown West 4
WP: Patch Dooley pic.twitter.com/VciyH4RFaE— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2017
Dooley, who has already fired a no-hitter this year, was five outs away before Christian Amoruso lined a clean single into right-center field to end the bid. He wound up going 5.2 IP, striking out seven and walking five to win his fifth game of the season.
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The offense had a tough task going against UMBC-commit Nicholas Trabacchi, who entered with five wins.
After going down 1-2-3 in the first, they put together a two-out rally in the second. Reis Henderson drew a walk, before Joe Litchhult recorded his first of three hits on the afternoon to move him to second. The following batter, Jacob Brigati, lined an RBI single to get the Thunderbirds on the board.
They added another run in the fourth on Litchhult’s sacrifice fly which scored Dooley, who led off and reached on an error.
Dooley was dominant during the middle innings, striking out two in the third and fifth innings. He erased two of his walks on pickoffs.
Hills East broke the game open in the sixth inning due in large part to some defensive miscues by Smithtown West. Litchhult roped an RBI double to make it 3-0, two more came in on a grounder through the third baseman’s legs and another error resulted in their sixth run coming home.
In the top of the seventh, Litchhult hit his second RBI double of the afternoon, to increase the lead to 7-0.
Credit the Smithtown West offense for putting up a valiant effort in the bottom of the seventh.They put up four runs including a two-run HR by Christian Amoruso–his first career varsity shot.
Belz was complimentary of Litchhult’s performance–noting that he was a .400 hitter last year and he told him before the game to “give me everything you’ve got” and he responded with a terrific performance.
With the victory, they improved to 13-3, while Smithtown West drops to 10-5.
Shortstop Mike Palazzolo noted that Dooley has “proven to one of the top pitchers in the county” and “it was a great team win.”
These two teams will be back at it tomorrow at Hills East.
