Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Farmingdale RHP Matthew Constantine who came in relief in the third inning with runners on 1st & 2nd 0 out and recorded the final 21 outs allowing just 1 run. Farmingdale won 4-1 pic.twitter.com/S52kiQBhCV
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2018
No. 1 seed Farmingdale State Rams stayed red-hot with a 4-1 victory over No. 4 USMMA on Friday afternoon, behind a dynamic relief appearance by senior Matthew Constantine. The West Babylon native came in with runners on 1st & 2nd, none out in the third inning and wound up recording the next 21 outs and earning the victory.
If there was any question as to how fired up these teams were entering the game, that was quickly answered in the top of the first inning.
After a leadoff triple by Jacob Sethong, Jesse Reinebold hit a humpback liner to second baseman Tyler Schrimpf. Sethong broke for the plate when it was clear the ball would drop, but it was the wrong decision as Schrimpf made an accurate throw to the plate and the ball beat him by a couple steps. What happened next is what Major League Baseball, the NCAA and high school baseball has made efforts to prevent. A collision at the plate, which resulted in two ejections and a lengthy delay by the umpires determining how to proceed.
When the dust settled, there was a ballgame to play and Reinebold was sent back to first (he continued to run throughout the melee).
Farmingdale’s LHP David Otero Jr., who had been lights-out for much of the season, scooted in-and-out of trouble in the both the first and second innings. The Rams offense failed to score against USMMA’s LHP Joe Raab who entered with a 1.60 ERA over 62.0 IP.
In the top of the third, Otero allowed a leadoff single and he mishandled a sacrifice bunt attempt before Coach Keith Osik came and replaced him with No. 2 starter Matthew Constantine. It was an aggressive decision considering the score was 0-0, but the move made off, as Constantine fielded a sacrifice bunt and intentionally walked the No. 3 hitter to load the bases for the dangerous Bryson Campbell. He coaxed an inning-ending 5-4-3 DP to end the inning. It would prove to be a crucial moment in the game as the game would turn into a pitcher’s duel.
Constantine would remain in the game and worked quickly and effectively.
Farmingdale would get on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kenneth Johntry led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Ernest, third on a wild pitch and scored on an unusual play. With the infield drawn in and Joe Roche at the plate, a routine groundball to the first baseman caused the chaos. Rather than take the easy out and step on the bag, the first baseman made the high-risk throw across the diamond which was mishandled by the third baseman and allowed Johntry to score the first run of the ball game. After Vinny Rice was hit by a hit and Anthony Gigante walked, freshman Jake Jacobs laced a two-run single to center field to open up the ballgame. As Rice scored, he let out a primal scream behind the plate. Jacobs was a key member of Commack’s 2017 Suffolk County Class AA championship team last year and the experience in high-leverage situations clearly paid dividends.
The Mariners got on the board in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI hit, but Constantine was able to bear down and stay in control. The Rams answered right back in the home half of the sixth on an RBI single by Ernest.
Constantine wound up pitching 7 innings, striking out four, walking one and surrounding just six hits for the hard-earned victory.
The Rams compiled only seven hits on the day and were outhit, 8-7, but ultimately the difference was the clutch hits they were able to come up with and there three errors that USMMA committed.
With the victory, the Rams will face No. 2 St. Joseph’s, whom they swept in a double header less than one month ago. They recorded shutouts in both games, two of their nation-leading 11 shutouts on the season.
They are two victories away from their first Skyline Conference championship since 2014.
