Robbie Keane‘s played through sleet, through rain and through snow–but nothing quite like the wind today.
The senior SS had a huge day at the plate in Farmingdale‘s 13-9 victory over previously undefeated Port Washington. He admitted it was aided–at least in part–by a 45+ MPH sustained wind through out the day. He smacked a game-tying three-run home run in the fifth inning to right to even the score, 8-8, and then the go-ahead two-run triple to left field to give Farmingdale a lead of 10-9.
“It helped and hurt us a lot,” he said following the game. “In the field we had a lot of balls just swirling in the air–lot of balls we should’ve caught just dropped and it helped us a little when we were batting–balls just carried. I’ve never played in anything this bad,” he added.
The pitching match up called for a low-scoring game between two top sophomore RHPs in Justin Rosner, who is coming off an Opening Day victory against Massapequa, and Derek Livingston. The wind, however, made it impossible for the pitcher’s to get comfortable and the fielder’s to make plays.
The Dalers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on an RBI single and a balk. It could’ve been worse, but Keane came up with the bases loaded and smacked a line drive to left field that was caught by Brian Schorr, who then doubled up the runner at second.
The Vikings responded in the home half of the second on an RBI triple by Aaron Klug to score Jack Stolper, an RBI ground out by Alex Chang and an RBI single by Alex Andrews.
That was far from the end of the offense.
Livingston departed after two innings with an apparent leg injury and he was relieved by Tom Burrows.
Farmingdale regained the lead 5-3 in the third on an RBI triple to CF by James DiSanti and an RBI single by Sean Sullivan.
Once again, Port Washington answered right back with two runs in the home half on a two-run double by Jack Stolper. Both runs could’ve been avoided as a routine ground ball was misplayed to start the inning.
Burrows fired a scoreless fourth inning and the Vikings took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run double by Jackson Trenaman and after a pitching change, Aaron Klug delivered an RBI single to extend the lead to 8-5.
In the top of the fifth, an error followed by a double by Phil Krpata set the stage for the Molloy-commit to come up and launch a game-tying three-run shot to right field to even the score 8-8 in the fifth.
The Vikings would not give in, though. A leadoff triple by Alex Chang, followed by consecutive outs brought up Schorr who ripped one to right field to give the lead back to Port Washington in the fifth.
Both teams went quietly in the sixth inning and Burrows came back out for the seventh inning running on fumes. He induced a ground ball to start the inning but it was botched to put the tying run on base. A fielder’s choice bought up Krpata who ripped one just inside the third base line for a single which brought up Keane, who drove the ball to left-center field and allowed the Dalers to score both runs and regain the lead 10-9. They added three more runs for insurance.
Reliever Alex Hajko was able to hold the lead to record the victory and seal the deal in this wild affair. That brought their record to 2-2 on the season while the Vikings fall to 3-1.
