Riverhead earned a 6-5 win over HCBL-leading Westhampton behind 3 RBIs from Eduardo Malinowski. The slugger spoke with Justin Paura after his big game, and his teams got in on the fun, too. pic.twitter.com/V1Dixv95PL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 15, 2018
This week hasn’t been quite what the Riverhead Tomcats (4-3-1) expected. After starting the season at a respectable 3-1-1, John Galanoudis’ squad dropped two straight games to the previously winless North Fork Ospreys on, one at home on Monday and one on the road Tuesday. However, the Tomcats did not let the losses get to them. It seems they recognize how long the HCBL season is and came into Thursday afternoon with a complete change of pace. Riverhead matched the amount of runs they scored in the two games against North Fork in their 6-4 win over the first place Westhampton Aviators (7-3-0).
Braedon Holub got the starting nod for the Aviators for the second time this season. In his first start, Holub earned the win last Saturday against the Long Island Road Warriors who technically are tied with Westhampton at the top of the league (Westhampton owns the tiebreaker). The Texas-native did not have the same stuff on Thursday as he did on Saturday, giving up three straight singles to start the game, eventually allowing two runs to score in the bottom of the first.
The league’s top team cut its deficit in half the next half inning. Joe Greco, who got his first at-bats of the season in this game, unloaded a two-out triple on the first pitch he saw. The Sacred Heart sophomore scored two pitches later when Nick Cantone singled to bring the game to 2-1.
After a hitless bottom of the second, Riverhead came up in the third with hopes to put the game out of reach. Josh Greene singled to lead off the inning, then Eduardo Malinowski tripled right after for his second RBI of the afternoon. The next batter was Tyler Sanfilippo and he hit a high fly ball to right, giving Malinowski more than enough time to tag up and cross the plate.
Westhampton was down 4-1 heading into the top of the fifth, but they were not ready to lose their third game of the season just yet. With two outs, catcher John Tuccillo sent double to the outfield gap to bring home Tristan Welch from second.
Things started to look alright for the Aviators heading into the sixth. Tyler Thornington came in for Holub to start the fourth and struck out six of the nice batters he faced without allowing a run through two innings. But as all good teams do, Riverhead started to catch on. After Miles Kelly flew out in the bottom of the inning, Matt Daller drew a walk and Nicholas Lucchese worked a nine-pitch at-bat to also force a walk. Josh Greene followed the two walks with a single to load the bases, forcing Thornington out of the game. Aljo Sujak took over the bump, forcing a ground out from Malinowski. Greene was called out at second but Malinowski beat out the throw to first to avoid the double play, allowing Daller to score. Malinowski took off for second during Sanfilippo’s at-bat, but poor communication from Westhampton led to another Riverhead run. Tuccillo tried to gun Malinowski out, but nobody was covering second base and the ball trickled into the outfield, providing an easy path home for Lucchese.
6-2 was the score in the top of the seventh and the Aviators had a grand opportunity to turn the game around. Will Schaffer entered the game and immediately walked the first three batters he faced to load the bases with no outs. But Schaffer, a rising sophomore at the University of Pennslyvania, put himself together and silenced Westhampton’s threat. He got Ethan Hajdukovic and pinch-hitter Jordan Folgers to strike out in four pitches, setting up the third baseman David Hogarth. Hogarth quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, but fought back resiliently to force a full count. Schaffer went with a high fastball hoping Hogarth would bite and the batter was called out swinging after failing to hold up his swing. It was the game’s most controversial call, igniting a verbal altercation between Schaffer and a few Aviator players.
Nonetheless, Casey Aubin would come in for Schaffer to close out the game’s final two innings. He allowed one run in both the eighth and the ninth, but the cushion provided by Riverhead’s offense was enough to earn the Tomcats the 6-4 victory.
Our Digmi Player of the Game is Eduardo Malinowski, who finished the game 2/4 with three RBIs and one run scored. In Friday’s big HCBL day at Baseball Heaven, Riverhead will take on the Sag Harbor Whalers. The Aviators will only play one game on Friday against the Southampton Breakers.
