McHugh on his heroics and the big victory for Commack pic.twitter.com/iPsFTVnEsG
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 9, 2018
If there was one person to avoid seeing with the bases loaded, two-outs protecting a one-run lead it’s TCU-commit, Tim McHugh, who happens to have the best raw power of any player on Long Island.
The 6’4″ slugger took the first pitch for a ball before connecting and launching a go-ahead grand slam over the center field wall to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead for the Commack Cougars, who entered the inning trailing 3-1 with only two hits in the game.
Reliever Drew Vincent came on to protect the lead and record the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
The game started out with both pitchers dominating.
Jake Krzemienski started for the Cougars and Joey Savino started opposite of him and they both worked efficiently and effectively. Connetquot struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning with a leadoff walk to catcher Chris Amato, who later scored on a sacrifice fly by Stony Brook-commit Derek Yalon.
Savino went back out in the fifth inning and fired a 1-2-3 inning, striking out his seventh batter of the afternoon without allowing a hit. In fact, he had allowed only one hit.
The Thunderbirds had their first two batters retired in the bottom of the fifth, before an error by the shortstop prolonged the inning and Amato made them pay with a long two-run shot to left field.
That appeared like it would be all Savino needed with the way he was throwing, but Commack did respond in the sixth inning with a run to end his bid at a shutout. Pinch-hitter Dave Massa led off with a double to right field, and he came around to score three batters later when McHugh reached on an error by the third baseman. He retired the next two batters to end the threat and they were three outs away from improving to 3-0 on the season.
In the top of the seventh inning , Savino went back out for the complete game. He retired the first batter on a routine flyout to right field. The following batter, Cole Sass, looped a single to short right field to give the Cougars life.
It did one other thing, and that was forced pitching change. Savino had 91 pitches, and he was removed in favor of LHP John O’Connell. He was greeted with a bloop single by Drew Silverman to left field. Massa also followed with a single of his own to load the bases. Pat McNelis walked to force in a run and cut the lead to 3-2. The following batter was retired to set the stage for McHugh, with nowhere to put him.
He followed with the first defining moment of his baseball career, that may feature several more.
As you can see in the video above, despite the magnitude of the moment, McHugh was still hesitant to give himself any credit, rather he deflected to his teammates and the importance to the win.
Savino was outstanding in this game, he certainly deserved the win but that’s the nature of the game of baseball. These two teams will be battling it out all season in League II.
