Colin Diez talks about his dominant performance that led his team to victory and what this win means for Division going forward. pic.twitter.com/Q1waeAgbem
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2019
Arguably two of the most talented teams in Nassau County took the field on Thursday afternoon with a chance to take first place in the stacked conference A4. It was Division who came on top, beating North Shore and taking two games out of three by a score of 6-2.
Before the game begun, you could tell this was going to be a closly-contested game. Not only was the pitching match up Dan Livoti vs. Colin Diez, but both teams possess top notch coaching staffs, hence their consistent deep postseason runs.
Although this was just the 6th game of the season, the environment and emotion from both sides made it seem as if it was a playoff game.
North Shore got the chance to bat first and wasted no time getting runs across the board. After a questionable balk call that moved two runners into scoring position with two outs, Dan Livoti took advantage and delivered a sacrifice fly, providing North Shore with an early 1-0 lead in the 1st.
However, this lead didn’t last too long.
With two outs, catcher Ryan Spreckels drove in Myles Scarry with an RBI to opposite field, tying the game at 1-1 in the second inning.
The story of this game was Colin Diez. When the moment mattered most, the Queens-commit constantly came through for his team.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 4th, Diez smacked an infield single the other way, driving in a run, and taking a 2-1 lead. Diez finished the day going 4-4 at the plate with two RBI. He also went the distance on the mound, allowing two hits, four walks, one earned run and punched out seven.
Although North Shore threatened several times, Diez kept finding ways to work out of jams on the mound.
“My fastball felt really good, early in the game I was a little wild and as the game went on I worked more on my control and as the game went on my knuckle drop was really dominant,” said Diez.
Building off an inning ending 4-6-3 double play in the top of the 6th, Division knew they had to tack on more runs to comfortably secure a victory. Sure enough, they did.
RBI by Diez, Hunter Traenkle and Nick Giovanakis highlighted a four-run bottom of the 6th for Division.
They were in the driver’s seat from here as they triumphed to a 6-2 victory, taking the series and sole possession of first place in conference A4.
“It’s great beating North Shore they’re a great team, we’re ready to keep going moving forward,” said Diez.
With the victory, Division stands at 5-1 on the season. They play Floral Park next week. As for North Shore, they fall to 3-3 on the year, but have their toughest opponents behind them. However, they will be tasked with facing a sneaky Valley Stream North team next week.
