West Islip accomplished the main goal in a Class AA Suffolk County semifinal three-game series; win on the road to play tomorrow at home with a 1-0 series lead.
Senior RHP Joe Valentino stepped up for WI and earned the W, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings with seven Ks, five walks and four hits. The Patriots called upon LHP Chris Buehler to face WI at home, he was tagged with the tough-luck loss after allowing one earned run over seven innings with seven Ks, four walks and three hits.
“It has been like this every game, we’re a team that prides itself on pitching and defense, Ward Melville is a very similar team to us,” said WI head coach Shawn Rush. “Throughout the season we’ve had numerous games like this; this is what we’re bred for, this is our style of play.”
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Despite being known for strong pitching and sound defense, WI took extremely tough at bats and really made every pitch count early on in the game. Brandon Isolano led off the third for WI and worked a walk. After two wild pitches, Isolano was standing on third with Kyle O’Neill on first after he worked a walk as well. Greg Tsouprakos then came up and laid down an impressive clutch squeeze bunt for an RBI to give Valentino the lead he needed.
“We had a plan to keep hitters off balance as much as we could and try to bust them inside with fastballs and then work them away with soft stuff,” said Valentino.
Valentino finished the day at the plate 2-for-3 with an infield single providing some pressure in the five spot of the lineup. Despite being shut out, WM kept the pressure on Valentino and forced him out of the game with two outs in the seventh; pitch count was close to max. WM left four runners stranded in scoring position including one in the seventh. O’Neill came on in relief and earned the save after getting WM shortstop Logan Doran to ground out 4-3.
“It was a huge win, we definitely needed this and it was great to come here and get a W because they’re a good team with a lot of good hitters,” Valentino said. “It’s going to be a tough one tomorrow but we have home field advantage so I’m feeling good about it.”
WM is set to play a win-or-go-home game tomorrow on the road with their ace and Siena-commit, Ben Brown, on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in West Islip, weather permitting.
