Tyler Henry spoke to Justin Paura following Riverhead’s 1-0 victory over Sag Harbor in the Hamptons League pic.twitter.com/tTWqeA11YH
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 13, 2018
Tyler Henry came to Long Island all the way from Middletown, Ohio, about 700 miles away, just to pitch for the Riverhead Tomcats (16-12-3) in the HCBL. He got roughed up in his junior year at the University of Dayton, posting an ERA over 11 in 10 appearances. His luck has changed this summer after earning a role as a starter in John Galanoudis’ rotation and picking up his first win by pitching eight scoreless innings against North Fork on June 28. The 22-year-old was on the bump at home against the Sag Harbor Whalers (15-12-3) on Thursday in a battle for third place in the league. He showed his stuff once again in another gem to allow the Tomcats to get the 1-0 victory.
The task ahead of Henry was by no means easy. He was going up against a Whalers’ team carrying a three-game win streak while averaging five runs per game. Not to mention, Sag Harbor has two of the top five hitters in terms of batting average in the league in Nick Thornquist (first) and Joe Suozzi (fifth).
Despite all the firepower, Henry couldn’t be touched in the early going. Through the first five innings, he allowed only one base runner and retired 13 straight batters, sitting down five of them via strikeout.
Henry’s dominance cannot be overlooked, but Michael Marzonie was no slouch on the other side. The Boston College student-athlete posted seven strikeouts and held Riverhead scoreless through his first five innings of work.
The only inning with any true offense from either team came in the sixth. Kros Bay led off for Sag Harbor in the top of the inning and singled, representing the first base runner for the Whalers since Thornquist’s double in the first. Daniel Alvarez Jr. was up next and hit the ball hard, but got doubled up thanks to brilliant Tomcat defense. With two outs, Suozzi and Harry Hegeman each got on to set the stage for Thornquist, who came into the game with a .457 batting average. It was the best chance Sag Harbor had, but the UTSA-commit flew up the right to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Connor Echols led off and hit a fly ball in front of Suozzi in center-field. Luckily for Riverhead, Suozzi attempted to make a sliding grab rather than letting it bounce for a single. The All-Star misplayed the ball and it got by him and rolled to the fence, resulting in a stand-up triple. Eduardo Malinowski followed with a deep fly ball to right to score Echols and put the Tomcats on the board. After the sacrifice, Marzonie walked Chris Stefl and surrendered a single to Alex Baratta which would end his day. Hayden Brauser would take over and Xavier Vargas took a rip on the first pitch he threw. The ball went right up the middle into center and Galanoudis would send Stefl home, but Suozzi showed off the canon and threw him out to safe a run. Brauser then struck out Josh Greene to get Sag Harbor out of trouble.
The Whalers’ relievers held Riverhead scoreless after the sixth, but it didn’t matter because the Tomcats’ pitchers did the same. Henry pitched into the eighth and only came out due to pitch-count rules, then Andrew Mundy and Casey Aubin each tossed 1-2-3 innings to end the ball game.
Riverhead and Sag Harbor came into the game with 33 points each, but with the 1-0 win, the Tomcats now have 35 points and are in sole possession of third place. The Whalers have an opportunity to get those points back Friday in a rematch of Thursday’s contest, this time at Mashashimuet Park.
Our Player of the Game is Tyler Henry, who finished with a line of four hits, seven strikeouts and only one walk through seven innings.
