Michael Manzione crushed a 2-out grand slam to cut the deficit to 8-6 in the ninth pic.twitter.com/ilbUbfYFUU
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2018
What was a sure victory with two outs, nobody on base in the ninth inning and a six-run lead turned into an absolute nail biter. Chris Cepeda stated he was “praying” it would get caught.
“Thank God Gio {Giovanni Dingcong} was there,” said Cepeda, who recorded the victory. The Ward Melville product went six innings, allowed two ER, walked one and struck out five for his seventh victory of the season. Angelo Baez allowed a two-out grand slam to Michael Manzione, followed by a single to Anthony Vaglica after a 6-4-3 DP put them one-out away from the ECC Championship with an 8-2 lead.
Zach Fritz got into one to right center field and momentarily it appeared the unthinkable might happen, but Dingcong made the grab as he was running out of real estate along the warning track. The catch was both climatic and anticlimactic simultaneously as the comeback attempt was for nought.
The Spartans offense wasted zero time to get going in the top of the first inning against southpaw Noah Lorenzo.
Nick Lucchese led off with a single and came around to score on Anthony Shkrelja‘s two-run shot to left.
The added a run in the third on an RBI single by Joey Pena, the program’s all-time hits leader. First baseman Bobby Morse added a HR of his own, this of the solo variety, to extend the lead to 4-0 in the fourth.
Cepeda was effective, but he blinked in the bottom of the fourth when Manzione got him for an RBI double to score Dave Brehm. He was able to avoid further damage that inning.
The Pioneers crept closer in the fifth inning on an RBI single by the reigning Axcess Baseball MVP, Rob Andreoli, to score Ramger Iglesias.
A huge moment in the game occurred in the seventh inning. Lorenzo got a big double play from Kyle LaGrutta and looked poised to complete seven innings and keep his team in the game. Rather, a triple by Anthony Maisano to left-center field sprung the Spartans to life. Consecutive walks to Lucchese and Pena brought up the reigning ECC Player of the Year in Dingcong. He didn’t hit it far, but it was effective as Joe Spitaleri had a tough play and his throw scooted past Fritz at first to allow two runs to score and open up a 6-2 lead.
This was crucial due to the grand slam in the ninth inning. Fortunately for the Spartans, they allowed scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to extend the lead to 8-2.
It was a wild finish, and the Pioneers very nearly had an historic comeback.
Cepeda has been known to pitch his best in big games dating back to his days at Ward Melville where he led the Patriots to the Class AA Long Island Championship in 2013 as a junior. He fired a 67-pitch complete game shutout against a loaded Massapequa team.
Not one to pat himself on the back, the RHP stated he knew he “had to bring his A-game against a team that can mash 1-through-9 in the lineup”.
With the victory, the Spartans win their 35th game of the season and advance to the ECC Championship tomorrow at 12pm where they will face Molloy. They swept them in a four-game series three weeks ago.
