Final: Kings Park 5, Sachem North 2
WP: Joe SommerBranden Falco go-ahead two-run single
KP will face Commack tomorrow pic.twitter.com/gegR8kuOLR
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 15, 2017
When he was a freshman watching the Kings Park varsity team play, Branden Falco thought to himself “this is gonna be us someday.”
As it turns out, it was three years later that he would be playing in front of a packed house with his team trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning against Sachem North in an elimination game. It was the same team that had eliminated them the previous year, with the same pitcher (Chris Lollo) who fired a no-hitter as Falco watched from the sideline due to injury.
The LIU Post-commit ripped a two-run single up the middle to put the Kingsmen up 3-2, a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish with ace Joe Sommer on the hill.
“The last three starts he’s been electric,” he said of Sommer. “Every outing he just pumps and gets us wins. He’s been amazing,” he added.
Sachem North got out to an early 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Kyle Olson to score Jack Patach, who led off with a walk. They added another run in the top of the fifth on a wild pitch that scored Blake Burgan. The Arrows had Sommer on the ropes at that point. He was struggling with his command, having walked three in the inning, but he made a big pitch to get Phil Bellomo to fly out to center to end the inning.
LHP Chris Lollo was locked in for the first four innings. He had allowed only a single to the leadoff batter of the game, but had avoided any damage by making the right pitches when he needed to.
He began to lose his command in the bottom of the fifth, though, and the Kingsmen did not fail to capitalize this time.
After he retired the leadoff batter, he walked consecutive hitters and was taken out in favor of Kevin Kochen. He walked Andrew Bianco to load the bases for Falco. A wild pitch brought home the first run and advanced the runners to 2nd & 3rd. It seemed an intentional walk was inevitable, but they opted to pitch to the dangerous clean up hitter.
Falco made them pay with a well-struck single up the middle and the crowd was elated. They had the 3-2 lead with their ace needing just six outs to go.
Sommer did his best work in the final two innings, firing a 1-2-3 sixth inning and working around a one-out single to Burgan in the seventh. He finished the game with his ninth strikeout of the afternoon.
“It feels great,” said Sommer. “I cannot explain it. We just came back and fought tooth-and-nail to the end. It seems when the pressure is on, that’s when we thrive. We’ve won six of seven, we’re doing really well right now,” he added.
Kings Park improved to 12-9 on the season. They advance to play No. 2 seed Commack, the League II champions tomorrow at 4 pm.
“I know Commack is a solid team–a big school–but I think we have a chance against everyone.”
