Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Andrew Spinnenweber who was the winning pitcher in Merchant Marines 10-1 victory over Maritime. He struck out eight batters and allowed just an unearned run over 7 IP. @USMMA_Athletics #TipYourCap pic.twitter.com/bQgwvSFSZb
Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2018
In a win-or-go home scenario, the team with the dominant pitcher has a sizable advantage.
It was Andrew Spinnenweber, junior RHP for No. 4 United States Merchant Marines Academy (USMMA) who was close to untouchable. The combination of their hard-throwing ace plus a potent offensive attack that featured 10 runs on 16 hits was too much for the reigning SUNY Maritime Privateers to handle. With 10-1 victory, they advance to the double-elimination tournament beginning on Friday, 12pm at No. 1 Farmingdale State.
“It was a really good day–eighty-something degrees out,” said Spinnenweber, our Digmi Player of the Game. “Felt pretty good, arm was feeling alright. They were swinging, they changed up their game plan a little bit. I tried to get ahead of them as best I could–struggled a little bit but fought threw it. It’s a really good group of guys I’m excited to see where the rest of the playoffs take us,” he added.
In the top of the first inning, he retired the first two batters to faced him but Phil Russo reached on an error by the shortstop. The following batter, Stephen Semler, ripped a ball into the right-center field alley way. Russo was running on the crack of the bat with two outs and appeared destined to score but a perfect relay by the right fielder, Jacob Sithong, to second baseman, Alex Mesaros, to the catcher gunned down Russo at the plate.
The Mariners were fired up and it really set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
In the bottom of the first, Jesse Reinebold ripped a one-out double and he scored on a double by Michael Barnes. Maritime starting pitcher Anthony D’Ancona was working on three days rest and left some pitches up in the zone. He was fortunate to escape the first allowing only one run as a failed suicide squeeze and a great diving play by Antonio Diaz at third prevented further damage.
They padded their lead with three more runs in the bottom of the second thanks to consecutive two-out triples by Zack Wintzer and Sithong as well as an infield error an also an RBI single by Michael Barnes.
The Privateers showed some fight in the top of the third inning, a leadoff walk by Travis Zurita and an errant pick off throw put him in scoring position with no out. He made an aggressive base running move to tag up on a medium-range fly ball to center. The following batter, Phil Russo, scored him on a sac fly to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth and the Mariners really opened it up. They chased D’Ancona after a leadoff double by Reinebold. Reliever Kyle Peterson came on and allowed an RBI double by Bryson Campbell (4-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R) and an RBI single by Mesaros.
Spinnenweber would bend but not break in the fifth inning, when he allowed a leadoff bunt single by Diaz and a walk to Zurita. He was able to bear down and get a strikeout of Matt Costleigh and induce a 3-6-1 twin killing from Russo.
The Privateers had two base runners again in the sixth on a leadoff single by Semler and an error, but once again he was at his toughest when it mattered. He struck out Aaron Schiavoni, Chris Deddo and Connor Alwan to elude any damage.
In the home half of the sixth, the Mariners put up four more runs to increase their lead to 10-1, and that would be the final.
In the bottom of the eighth a special moment happened. Maritime Head Coach Charlie Barbieri replaced his seniors while they were in the field in order to get them a standing ovation by their fans and one final opportunity to embrace their teammates walking off the field.
It was a significant moment because the current crop of seniors represented a drastic shift in the trajectory of the Maritime baseball program. They won 83 games and were the focal point of the program’s first Skyline Conference Championship last season.
“This group–it’s about more than baseball,” said Barbieri. “It’s about the friendships they created, guys they will be friends with for life. The leadership they provided for the younger guys, they are really high-character guys and obviously on the field–83 wins, a conference championship–they literally re-wrote the record books. Multiple All-Conference awards, multiple All-Region awards, lots of Axcess Baseball awards. I couldn’t be prouder,” he added.
With the victory, USMMA improves their overall record to 25-12 and will most likely send Joe Raab (7-2, 1.60 ERA, 75 K, 62.0 IP) to the mound against Farmingdale’s ace David Otero Jr.
