Road Warriors pick up a 6-4 victory over North Fork Ospreys to move into sole possession of first place pic.twitter.com/hnqkXzhI8Q
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2018
One week ago, the Long Island Road Warriors hit their first brick wall of the season. They dropped a key game to Westhampton, who they have been trading on-and-off with for first place in the HCBL, and proceeded to go on a three-game losing streak. It was unfamiliar territory for the defending league champions after starting the season winning seven of their first eight games.
But that was last week. This week, the narrative is back to what Neal Heaton and his unit are accustomed to. The Road Warriors (11-4-0) are atop the HCBL after picking up a 6-4 victory over the North Fork Ospreys (6-8-2) on Wednesday. The win for Long Island is their fourth in a row.
Coming into Wednesday’s contest, the Ospreys flipped the script on their season. They started the summer without a win through their first seven games, not doing better than a tie against Riverhead. But dating back to June 11, North Fork has only lost one game and got themselves back into the HCBL playoff race. The one team that defeated Bill Ianniciello’s squad in its last eight games however…the Road Warriors.
Long Island got to North Fork starter Brendan Bean early in the afternoon. The rising UPenn sophomore surrendered singles to Garrett Heaton and Thomas Colombo in the bottom of the first and they each advanced thanks to a deep fly out from Ben McNeill. With two outs in the inning, Bean lost control of a fastball that catcher JC Santini just could not contain. The ball found the backstop and Heaton jetted off for home, scoring the first run of the game.
North Fork trailed 1-0 going into the third, but they temporarily found their stride. Oliver Tavares scorched a double that would bring home both Ben Terwilliger and Connor Stanton to put the Ospreys up by one. Nolan Kessinger with follow with a double of his own, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Long Island started Liam Dvorak stumbled on the mound and dropped the ball before he could deliver a pitch to Tyrese Clayborne, resulting in a balk that would allow Tavares to score. Kessinger represented the fourth run of the inning when he stole home on a pass ball by Matt Codispoti.
4-1 Ospreys was the count after the top of the third, but that score would not hold for long. In fact, it did not even hold for a full inning. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Cameron Tomaiko ripped a single to center field to score McNeill and bring Long Island within two. Then Eric Roubal, who came into the game with no hits in eight at-bats against North Fork this season, stepped up to the plate. The Queens College junior obliterated the first pitch he saw and all the Ospreys could do was watch the ball travel over the 326-foot sign in left field. It was a three-run home run that put the Road Warriors on top 5-4.
Once Long Island got the lead, they would never look back. Tristan Amone took the ball from Dvorak in the fourth and only allowed one hit through three innings of work. After his work was done, the combination of Matt Parson, Matt Paghidas and Dominic Savino made sure that North Fork would not score again.
In the bottom of the seventh, Codispoti decided to put a bow on the game with a laser over the left field fence to lead off the inning. It was the catcher’s first HCBL home run and it doubled the Road Warriors’ lead. The solo homer accounted for the last run of the ball game as Long Island proved to be North Fork’s kryptonite during their otherwise season-changing stretch.
The Road Warriors are back at their home field Thursday afternoon when they will take on the Southampton Breakers. They played the Breakers on Tuesday as Southampton High School and left with a 6-4 win. The Ospreys look to get back in the win column when they host the now second place Westhampton Aviators on Thursday.
Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Eric Roubal. Roubal finished the game with only one hit, but it was the three-run bomb that represented the final lead change of the afternoon.
