Dylan Reilly on his game-saving throw to the plate in Holy Trinity’s 5-4 victory pic.twitter.com/C7OoE5bNyS
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2018
Dylan Reilly was prepared for the moment.
Holy Trinity practices “do-or-die” plays at the plate every day at practice, said the senior outfielder, so when he fielded a base hit with the potential tying-run he was not concerned.
“It’s a simple play, ground ball to the outfield and you come up throwing and get the guy out at home–that’s it,” he added.
The inning, though, was anything but simple for Holy Trinity.
Starter Will McCarthy, a sophomore, left with a 5-1 lead, after breezing through six innings allowing just five hits and two walks against an undefeated Chaminade squad that entered at 6-0. They feature a high-octane offense that had averaged 12.3 runs per game, including 15 runs yesterday against the Titans. Cleanup hitter, Jack Peluso, was named to our Preseason All-Long Island list and is committed to Creighton.
What an ending ! A bang-bang play at the plate and Holy Trinity holds on 5-4 pic.twitter.com/jyBpfH1Lhw
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2018
The bottom of the seventh started out innocent enough with a ground out to second base, but a walk to leadoff batter Paul Orbon was a precursor for things to come. A strikeout of Anthony Molinari put the Flyers on the precipice of defeat, but Aidan Larkin and Jack Peluso both walked despite some borderline calls. This brought up Nick Jaskolski who made it hurt with an opposite field bases-clearing double to cut the lead to 5-4 and put the potential tying-run in scoring position.
The following batter, Aidan Umhafer laced a single to right field and allowed Reilly to make the play on what he later called “a dream situation:
The difference in the game was Holy Trinity’s offense against Flyers’ starter Logan Koester. The junior RHP had great stuff, but struggled a bit with his command and the Titans capitalized early and often.
In the first, two hit batsman and a sac bunt allowed Mike Zawol to drive in their first run with a single. They added two runs in the second inning on an RBI single on a chopper over the third baseman’s head by Mike Cartusciello to score Reilly, who was also hit with a pitch. They added another run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Mott to score Sean Delahunty, who reached on an error to start the inning.
McCarthy allowed his only run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mike Dell’Unto to score Peluso, who briefly put a scare into everyone in attendance by ripping a line drive off McCarthy’s shoulder that ricocheted all the way to right field.
Delahunty extended the lead to 5-1 on an RBI infield single in the fifth inning, which appeared to put the game out of reach.
Both teams went down quietly into the seventh inning when all the chaos occurred. It was an enjoyable game for both teams, and Holy Trinity will now be looking to parlay it into a hot streak for first-year Head Coach Dan Luisi.
