Big-time players love the high-intensity situations. Sayville freshman Brock Murtha has proven to be one of those players, and displayed that by nailing down the save with back-to-back strikeouts with runners on 2nd & 3rd, one out to preserve a 5-4 win over rival Rocky Point.
“I love it,” said the freshman fireballer said in regards to having the ball in his hands in the high-leverage situations. “I love the feeling, I love everything. It’s a great feeling,” he added.
Final: Sayville 5, Rocky Point4
WP: Anthony Martino
S: Brock Murtha pic.twitter.com/WH8CSKoCTG aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2017
Sayville got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Murtha hit an infield pop up that was dropped by the second baseman with Ryan Alexandersen on third. They added another run in the second on a solo shot by Jake Sheridan and increased the lead to 3-0 on a wild pitch in the third inning that scored Murtha.
It appeared they had the game in hand with ace Anthony Martino (Bridgeport-commit) on the hill, but Shane Owensby hit a two-run single in the fourth inning to cut the lead to 3-2.
Sayville answered right back with an RBI double by Matt Kinahan in the fifth inning, and Jake Russo followed with an RBI single to make it 5-2.
Rocky Point would not go down without a fight, though. They took advantage of consecutive errors to start the inning.
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They scored two runs in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Scott Puric and a wild pitch to make it 5-4. With leadoff batter Joey Grillo at the plate, they had the go-ahead run on second, but Martino was able to bear down and make a big pitch, inducing the inning-ending ground out to preserve the lead.
Murtha came on in the seventh for the save and he worked around a single and a dropped fly ball in right-center field to strike out the next two batters to put the finishing touches on the game. Sayville lowered their magic number to 1, meaning they will clinch League 6 by winning one of the final two games of the series.
James Weisman took the loss for Rocky Point.
“It feels pretty good, especially against this team,” said Martino. “They are always tough, every year, every series. They are tough, they are gritty,” he added.
