The Westhampton Aviators call Westhampton Beach’s varsity field home for the summer. The Aviators have six Long Islanders on their roster, three of which are pitchers, but only one was in the starting lineup today. Central Florida corner infielder Tyler Osik got the start at first for the Aviators. The junior is batting .324 so far this season with five doubles, seven RBI, a home run and 11 walks.
The Aviator bats came together to put up five runs on three hits, a couple errors and two walks in the fourth inning. The inning was started by a lead off triple from the bat of UMass-Lowell sophomore, Cam Climo. He would come around to score and put the Aviators on the board early with no one out after Riverhead took the lead in the top half of the inning.
“We weren’t producing early on, we normally do, we’re a good hitting team so we needed to just break it open,” said Climo. “I was lucky enough to get my pitch and knock one down the line.”
Climo, a Massachusetts native, finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk, a triple and a run. He played an impressive freshman season for the River Hawks batting .273 and starting 29 games with 35 appearances and a 1.000 fielding percentage in the outfield. Climo brings some power to the Aviators lineup already knocking three home runs, finishing his freshman season at Lowell with five.
The junior RHP from Ball State, TJ Harmon, came away with the victory after allowing three runs over five innings of solid work. Riverhead DH George Bell tore in to one for his first dinger of the summer to lead off the fourth for Riverhead. The slugger finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI’s, as he emerges as a real power threat in the five spot. Harmon ran in to trouble again in the fifth after walking back-to-back batters with one out. Alex Barotta, infielder for Binghamton, brought in the Tomcats’ second run with an RBI single and Bell followed with one of his own to bring Riverhead within two runs in the fifth. Barotta continued to stroke the ball finishing 2-for-4 with two singles.
“The America East really prepared me for this league,” Climo said. “We’re a real good team with a strong lineup all the way through so it’s really assuring to go out there and not have to worry as much.”
Another notable story emerging from this game is the return to form of Perfect Game All-American Honorable Mention, Jerrette Lee. Lee only saw one at bat in his freshman year at UPenn after breaking his back playing. He comes to the Hamptons league looking for a chance to get back into the game after a big redshirt forcing injury. The 6’5 outfielder also finished his day 1-for-3, but with a single, a RBI, a stolen base and a walk.
“I’ve been trying to get into my approach, let some pitches go by me; I’ve been struggling a bit but I just wanted to sit back and think middle-away.” Lee said.
Three of the Aviator’s runs were plated due to errors. The junior catcher from Ball State, Griffin Hulecki, drove in the other run off an E7. Junior pitcher for Tennessee, Richard Jackson, came in and threw some heat for the Aviators to earn the save.
Both teams have a quick turn around as they are set to play games tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. The Aviators are scheduled to host Southhampton and Riverhead is on the road again at Sag Harbor.
