Ryan Picarello wins it for Mount Sinai ! 4-3 (11 innings) pic.twitter.com/t5fNuoUTBS
aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 16, 2017
If we ever get our own TV network, this one will be on aXcess baseball classics.
What a game–featuring a walk-off RBI single up the middle by Ryan Picarello to deliver No. 4 Mount Sinai a 4-3 win over No. 5 Southampton. They overcame a 3-1 deficit in the bottom of the 11th after the Mariners of Southampton took a 3-1 lead on consecutive RBI doubles by Devon O’Brien and Thomas Gabriele.
This one was a tremendous pitcher’s duel between League 8 MVP Chad Pike and Dan Deckert.
There was no score through five innings, as each pitcher was dominant. Pike worked out of a couple jams, displaying an intestinal fortitude rarely seen in a young pitcher. Deckert was matching him zero-for-zero, though.
The Mariners got on the board in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by O’Brien to score Jem Sisco, who hit a two-out double to left-center field. It appeared that it would be a quick 1-0 final, as Pike took the mound in the seventh in a great rhythm but he allowed a lead-off to Picarello. After he stole second and Pike recorded a strikeout, a routine ground ball to first base eluded the fielder and allowed the Mustangs to tie the game up.
The game remained knotted at 1-1 as both starters threw the eighth inning, before Pike came out in favor of Gabriele. Deckert stayed out and wound up firing 10 innings with 13 strikeouts, walking none and allowing only three hits.
“I was feeling good the whole game but eventually I can’t just pitch the whole game so I have to give it up to Jonathan [Symington],” said Deckert.
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Things got interesting in the 11th inning. With two outs and nobody on, Sisco smoked a single which set the stage for O’Brien ripping an RBI double off the wall in right field to allow the Mariners to take a 2-1 lead. Gabriele just followed with a well-struck ball of his own that just nearly missed being a two-run HR. He settled for a double but it appeared the lead was safe.
In the bottom of the 11th, though, a leadoff walk followed by a double by Will Esposito put the tying runs on base. Deckert was intentionally walked to load the bases for D.J. Gatz. He smoked one to first base, which allowed the run to score and the trailing runners to advance as well. George Rainer (3-for-5) was intentionally walked to loaded the bases setting the stage for Jared Donnelly, who tied the game up with a well-struck sacrifice fly to right field.
Picarello came up and the rest is history.
“I’ve been struggling the last couple weeks,” he said. “It feels good to hit one through the hole finally and win the game,” he said.
Mount Sinai improves to 13-7 on the season while Southampton drops to 14-6. They will face No. 1 seed Shoreham-Wading River tomorrow in another highly-anticipated match up.
