Mike Pokorny on the 4-2 victory for Calhoun pic.twitter.com/WFSUDXYqGR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2018
With Calhoun leading 4-2 in the top of the sixth inning, Tyler Patterson stepped to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. He drove one to deep left and the Calhoun dugout collectively gasped.
The ball was caught at the warning track by Jake Edwards to retire the side and also allowed their dugout to breathe a sigh of relief.
Patterson gave one a ride but it was caught at the track (Photo Credit: Christine Heeren)
The game was a match up of two talented pitchers. Charlie Cucchiara, named to our Preseason All-Long Island list, is coming off an All-County season as a sophomore for East Meadow against Mike Porcelli, who was an All-League starter last season.
Porcelli allowed consecutive singles to start the game but worked out of the jam unscathed.
Calhoun went to work against Cucchiara, with Pokorny getting things started with a bloop single. He advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a bloop single by Jack Pugliano. After a strikeout, Jake Edwards laced one just inside the third base line to score Pugliano and extend the lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the second, their good fortunes continued.
After the leadoff batter struck out, Dante DiMarco blooped a one-out single. The next batter, Brandon Borelli executed a perfect hit-and-run play, slapping one into the vacated hole at second base into right-center field. DiMarco, taking nothing for granted, hustled all the way around to score the run to extend the lead to 3-0. Pokorny came to bat with two out and hit a sinking liner to center field that was briefly caught but there was a massive collision between the center fielder and second baseman that resulted in the ball to fall and their fourth run to score. Pokorny hustled into second base. Cucchiara fanned the next batter, and actually settled into a dominant run for the next several innings.
In the top of the fourth, East Meadow put together a threat after the first two batters were retired. Three consecutive hits from the bottom third of the order brought Cucchiara to the plate as the potential tying run. On a 3-2 pitch, he fanned to end the threat and the game temporarily appeared to be in-hand.
He struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth and his offense began to peck away. Eric Berstein smoked an RBI single to right field to score Daniel Molina, who led off the inning with a single. Porcelli was taken out in favor of Pugliano, who put out the fire with a flyout t right field.
Cucchiaio struck out two more batters in the fifth inning to bring his total to nine through five innings.
In the top of the sixth inning, things got dicey.
A hit by pitch and a walk brought Molina to the plate, who lined an RBI single to left field to cut the score to 4-2. A strikeout brought cleanup hitter Tyler Patterson to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. He gave it a ride, but it was caught to end the inning.
Pugliano went back out for the seventh inning an worked around a leadoff single by Berstein to retire the next three batters and seal the deal.
Calhoun improves to 7-1 on the season and East Meadow falls to 2-2. Calhoun is among the favorites to compete for the Nassau County Class AA championship, and they will have significant challenges in front of them, but Pokorny said they are confident heading into their showdown with Plainview JFK in two weeks.
