Stars Shine Bright at LICBL’s All-Star Game

Vinny Rice (Farmingdale State) went 2-for-2 with a double and a triple pic.twitter.com/95gis0yAw0

— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2018

Don’t tell Mike Manetta it’s only an exhibition game.

The SUNY Old Westbury rising sophomore hit a routine ground ball to second base with the tying run on third base and 2 outs in the ninth inning with the National All-Stars trailing 6-5 in the LICBL All-Star Game. The speedy left-handed batter busted it out of the box and beat the bang-bang play to tie the game at 6-6, which would ultimately be the final score.

It was a microcosm of how the game was played, with both teams exchanging blows, big hits from both teams and no team taking greater than a two-run lead at any point.

The hard-throwing Ryan Sandberg, who just transferred from Queensborough to Florida Atlantic University after leading NJCAA in K’s per 9 at 17.6 got the start for National All-Stars. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed a walk and a single to Evan Sinclair, which moved the runner to third. He escaped the jam with his second strikeout of the inning. He sat 89-90 MPH with his fastball, establishing himself as a prospect for the MLB Draft in 2 years.

Nicholas Palmerini (Adelphi ’20) started opposite of Sandberg, he allowed a two-out double by Vinny Rice (more on him shortly) to put runners on 2nd & 3rd, but he eluded the jam when John Condon (SUNY Old Westbury) smoked a line drive to right field that was caught.

In the bottom of the third, the National All-Stars broke through when Andrew Florides (NYIT) ripped a one-out single to left field and Rice struck again with an RBI triple to left-center field. He showed why he is leading the league in batting at an incredible .512 AVG. He scored on a sac fly by the ensuing batter, John Condon.

The American All-Stars struck back, though, when they received an RBI triple and a sac fly of their own in the fourth inning. Harrison Treble smoked the RBI triple to score Jake Bannon and Dom Castiglione scored him with the sac fly.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the fifth when Brian Forbes hit a hump back liner up the middle, which he beat out to score the go-ahead run, but the runner was thrown out at third attempting to advance.

Mike Manetta beats out a grounder to second to score the game tying run in the ninth, 6-6 pic.twitter.com/kfBR0oI4lc

— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2018

The lead did not last long as Nick LaSala singled, advanced to second on a single by Castiglione, to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch to tie it up in top of the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Nationals took a 5-3 lead on an RBI single by Dom Bonfiglio and a sac fly by Sal Vittorio.

If you thought it was over there, you were mistaken as the American team bounced back on a sac fly off the bat of Zach Kleinwaks to cut the lead to 5-4.

Nico Doria (Fordham) led off the top of the eighth with a triple to right field on a misplay by the outfielder and scored on a passed ball to even the score at 5-5.

The theme of sac flys continued in the top of the ninth, when Seamus Connelly drove in Zach Kleinwaks, who doubled, with a deep fly to center field to give the American All-Stars a 6-5 lead. For a moment, it appeared that would be the final when there was two outs in the ninth, but Manetta’s speed proved to be critical as he beat out the grounder to even the game a 6-6, which proved to be the final.