Final: Commack 2, Hauppauge 1
WP: Johnny Pohlman (complete game)Krzemienski go-ahead RBI single pic.twitter.com/wxeBR8Wrf9
aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2017
Johnny Pohlman didn’t have his best command in the first inning, walking the bases loaded but showed his intestinal fortitude by making the big pitches when it counted. He wound up firing a complete game with nine strikeouts, allowing only one run on two hits with six walks in Commack’s 2-1 victory over Hauppauge in the second round of the Class AA playoffs.
“I really couldn’t find my fastball to begin with,” said the College of St. Rose-commit. “I had trouble in the beginning, but once I found my change up, and everything was able to set into place, I was able to keep the hitter’s off balance,” he added.
Offense was hard to come by, but the Commack Cougars got on the board right away when 2016 League 1 MVP Pete Theodorellis led off with a line-drive double down the left field line. The following batter, James Cardinale, smoked an RBI single to right to put the Cougars up 1-0.
Hauppauge starter, Matt Overton, settled in after that, benefiting from a terrific double play by Connor Cutino at third base to end the inning.
Both starters were able to put up zeros in the second and third innings, but the Eagles tied it up in the fourth on an RBI double just inside the third base line by Anthony Ferrara to score Ryan Mackey who drew a one-out walk.
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In the home half of the fourth, the Cougars regained the lead when Jason Salerno reached on a leadoff error and stole second base. Tim McHugh, who hit a monstrous HR yesterday, lifted a deep fly to left but the left fielder was playing extremely deep and was able to catch it. Salerno tagged up to third. That hustle paid off, as the following batter, Jake Krzemienski, ripped the go-ahead RBI single to center field to score him.
Hauppauge’s best chance to score after that was in the fifth when Pohlman walked the leadoff batter, and Nick Sellitto dropped down a two-strike sacrifice bunt to advance him to second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch with two outs. They attempted a two-out suicide squeeze with Dylan Flynn but it was missed and catcher Anthony Lambroia fired a strike to third to nail Cutino to end the inning.
Pohlman went 1-2-3 in the seventh to end the game.
He noted that having such a deep lineup gives him a peace of mind on the hill.
“When Pete gets on I know we’re scoring. I wish we had a fence, we’d have about 10 more home runs, but it’s awesome being a part of the team.”
They will be back in action on Friday, improved to 17-3 on the season.
Overton was handed the tough-luck loss, they will host Bay Shore tomorrow.
