The Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League is full of offensive talent and a lot of that talent is playing for the Sag Harbor Whalers. They have five players who have played in at least seven games that bat over .300, but it hasn’t shown in their record. The Whalers were 5-6-1 coming into their game against the first-place Long Island Road Warriors on Thursday, not to mention LI was carrying a four-game win streak. Luckily for the Whalers, all their bats showed out at St. Joseph’s Outdoor Athletic Complex and lit up the scoreboard for an 11-5 victory.
Sag Harbor came ready to play right out of the gates, taking a lead in the first inning and never looking back. Jason Allbery and Nick Thornquist slapped back-to-back RBI singles, setting the stage for third baseman Connor Anderson. The Texas-native blasted a three-run homer to left field to give the Whalers an early 5-0 cushion.
Sag Harbor Whalers defeat LI Road Warriors, 11-5, behind Connor Anderson’s big day including a 3-R shot pic.twitter.com/Uf8W3xwrL2
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 22, 2018
The HCBL’s top team responded in the bottom of the second. Ben McNeill, Matt Codispoti and Cameron Tomaiko led off the frame by occupying all three bases. Eric Roubal was the next man up and he followed suit by hitting a two-run single to get Long Island on the board. Thomas Brady proceeded to ground out to second, but Tomaiko crossed home to cut their deficit down to 5-3.
The Road Warriors tried to keep it close, but it was Sag Harbor’s day. Brandon Miller hit a sacrifice fly to score Thornquist in the top of the third, eventually forcing starting pitcher Sal Zafonte to stay in the dugout for after three innings of work. Connor Clark took over on the bump, but not much changed. Allbery hammered an RBI double in the top of the fourth to score Joe Suozzi. Thornquist followed with a bunt single, then pinch hitter Bryan Rubin did the same thing to bring home Allbery from third.
8-3 was the score going into the fifth inning. The Road Warriors got a run off a SAC fly from Marcos Perivolaris in the bottom of the inning, but what came in the top of the sixth really put the game to bed. Thornquist and Rubin led off the inning and got on base for Anderson. Anderson continued his dominant day by picking up his third hit of the afternoon and fourth RBI with a double. It was Miller’s turn next and he knocked a single to score Rubin, followed by an RBI double for Suozzi three batters later.
Tomaiko would get bring home McNeill in the bottom of the sixth, but it was too little too late as that would be the last run of the afternoon. Sam Lara tossed three scoreless to secure the 11-5 win for Sag Harbor.
The Whalers get back to .500 with the victory and have an opportunity to get over the hump against the Riverhead Tomcats on Friday. As for the Road Warriors, they look to get back in the win column Friday when they host the Southampton Breakers. Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Connor Anderson, who finished the game 3/5 with a home run and a double along with four RBIs and two stolen bases.
