Mark Faello on his no-hitter (6-innings) against Herricks pic.twitter.com/x9o8kGK80X
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 28, 2018
It wasn’t EXACTLY the real deal, but it was close enough.
Reigning Diamond Award winner Mark Faello fired a six inning no-hitter in Plainview JFK‘s 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Herricks on Tuesday afternoon. He struck out 12 batters and walked three. Last season, he no-hit the same team while compiling 19 strikeouts.
The game was much closer than the score would indicate, actually, for much of the game. Faello smacked a two-run HR over the center field fence in the 1st inning to give himself an early 2-0 lead. The score would stay that way and Herricks was able to make Faello work hard in the fifth inning. They forced him to throw 28 pitches and drew two walks, bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate. In true ace fashion, Faello recorded a big strikeout to end the threat before displaying a show of excitement.
“When it’s second-and-third at 2-0, a bloop hit can change the game,” said the fireballer. “It was the nine-hitter, he kept fouling me off, so it felt good,” he added.
The flood gates opened up after that, as the Hawks put up three runs in the home half of the fifth on a sac fly by Ryan Saltzman and the big knock coming on a two-run double by University of Maine-commit Tyler Marinaccio.
With his pitch count at 79 entering the sixth, it was expected to be Faello’s last inning of work, according to Head Coach John Givargidze. He was efficient, though, working a 1-2-3 inning needing only 7 pitches so we’ll never know if he would’ve been sent back out in the seventh.
That’s because his offense went back to work in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five runs with the walk-off RBI hit coming from Ethan Schorr.
It was a dominating performance by one of the elite players on Long Island, something that the team has come to expect with him on the mound.
The newly-adopted run was passed amidst much controversy and was implemented as a pilot this season.
The Hawks will be one of the top teams in Nassau Class AA this season. They were defeated by Massapequa, 4-0, in the county finals. Faello finished the season 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA and also batted .372 with a .450 OBP and 23 RBI.
They will have a dynamic duo with Marinaccio to go along with Faello and that’s a daunting task for Nassau County foes.
