https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbifqwX4G7M
Westhampton Beach hosted two baseball games on Sunday afternoon, and the Aviators were ready to return home. The top team in the HCBL hosted North Fork in a back-to-back game double-header for the sixth and seventh meetings this season.
The Aviators were coming off an 11-1 victory in Shelter Island in a game that ended after eight innings due to the mercy rule. Meanwhile, the Ospreys had not played since Wednesday, a game they lost in Westhampton 9-7, due to the torrential downpour that swept through Long Island. In a match up that was billed a hot vs. cold narrative, the hot team proved to dominate.
The Aviators took game one 5-3, but it was the Ospreys that got off to a fast start. After Braeden Holub retired the first two batters of the game, Parker Bates went deep for his sixth home run of the season to put North Fork up 1-0.
That was the score through two innings until Mike Sciorra unloaded for a solo home run to begin the top of the third. The All Star’s first home run of the year extended the Ospreys’ lead 2-0.
This time, the Aviators responded. Chaney Dodge singled to lead off the home third. Then Joe Curcio singled. Eric Callahan hit into a fielder’s choice and Matt Hansen went yard for a three-run jack to give the Aviators a 3-2 advantage.
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But the scoring didn’t stop there. The bottom of the fifth inning was all about insurance for the home team. Curcio reached on an error. Callahan doubled. Matt Hansen reached on a fielder’s choice. Nick Bottari singled and Cam Climo reached on a fielder’s choice that plated two more runners. That made it 5-3, and two innings after Richard Jackson III closed it out.
Game two was a little less of a chess match. The Aviators defeated the Ospreys 9-1. Westhampton got on the board first with authority, after Curcio unleashed a three-run moonshot in the bottom of the first to make it 3-0 Aviators.
And the runs kept coming for Dan Luisi’s team. Callahan hit a sacrifice fly to score Tommy Pellis in the bottom of the second to make it 4-0. Pellis grounded out in the bottom of the third to score Bottari and put his team up 5-0. Bottari went deep for two more in the fourth to make it 7-0.
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After scoring 2 more in the home fifth, the Ospreys got one back in the sixth. Grant Young went six innings, giving up just one run, and was replaced in the seventh by Zack Hersh who sealed the 9-1 victory for Westhampton.
