Chris Stefl (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11K) on the 4-0 Game 1 victory for Riverhead pic.twitter.com/wFpm5htluy
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 26, 2018
For the first time in Riverhead Tomcat history, the team earned the top seed in the HCBL playoffs. The Tomcats won their last seven games of the regular season and beat Long Island by one point in the standings to secure home field advantage. No team on the Island was hotter coming into the playoffs then Riverhead and it showed Thursday. Chris Stefl blanked the fifth ranked Sag Harbor Whalers through seven innings in route to a 4-0 victory.
John Galanoudis elected to use Stefl over Tyler Henry for game 1. Henry leads all Riverhead starters in ERA, a mark of 2.31 that ranked third in the league during the regular season. The risk paid off as the St. Johns lefty was dominant against a Sag Harbor offense coming off a 12-run performance Wednesday night. Our Player of the Game had his best outing of the summer: seven innings, three hits, one walk, 11 strikeouts and no runs.
As for the Riverhead offense, it did its job against Max Spencer. It started in the bottom of the first when Alex Baratta and Louis Antos hit back-to-back singles and Xavier Vargas walked to load the bases. Connor Echols stepped up for his first playoff at-bat and smacked a single to bring home Baratta. Antos tried to score from second, but a dart from Sean Trenholm in left field beat him to the plate and Riverhead settled for the 1-0 lead.
Spencer, who pitched into the seventh inning, retired Trevor Fagan and Matt Daller to start the bottom of the second. Josh Greene muscled a single down 0-2 in the count, then Stefl helped himself with a single of his own. Baratta kept the rally going with another single, deep enough to score Greene and get Stefl to third. Antos mimicked Baratta and hit an RBI single to extend their lead to 3-0.
The Tomcats bats fell 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third, but got another run across in the fourth. It took another two-out rally as Stefl worked a walk and Baratta got his third hit of the afternoon to set up Antos. The HCBL batting champion roped his second RBI hit in his first playoff appearance.
4-0 was the count after Spencer got out of the fourth, but the Whalers offense never got going. Stefl struck out six in the back half of his start before handing the ball to Andrew Mundy. The Hofstra righty pitched a scoreless inning and Beau Keathley followed in the ninth to secure Riverhead’s first playoff win since 2012.
The Tomcats lead the best-of-three series that continues Friday at Mashashimuet Park. The winner of this series take on the Long Island/ Westhampton gauntlet. The Aviators picked up a road win Thursday and look to clinch a spot in the championship series at home Friday.
