Final: West Islip 5, North Babylon 4 (13 Innings)
WP: Brad Battaglini (5 IP, 1 R)Mike LaDonna: Wall-off sac fly pic.twitter.com/ogXGg6gd4Q
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2019
With their backs firmly against the wall in the seventh and 13th innings, West Islip did what only they are comfortable doing and that’s battling back from behind. They came back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to win 5-4 in 13 innings against League 4 rival North Babylon.
“We grinded today,” said winning pitcher Brad Battaglini. “We had a lot of opportunities and couldn’t really push a run across but we got the “W” today,’ he added.
The reigning Suffolk AA Champs are comfortable with the uncomfortable and unflappable even in the stickiest of situations. The winning run scored on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Mike LaDonna, who went 1-for-6 on the game, to score Matt Walsh, who tied the game up with an RBI triple to score Nick Siano, who was plunked for the third time in the game with one out in the 13th inning.
The game got off to a poor start for the Lions, who allowed North Babylon to get on the board when a routine ground ball snuck under the glove of their shortstop to score Brian Primm, who hit a two-out double to left field. DiCapua did not allow the inning to get away from him though, even after a single by Brett Schultzeisz and a balk to put both runners in scoring position. He struck out Ross Tallarico looking to end the inning down just 1-0.
NYIT-commit Nick Burke got the nod for North Babylon, he allowed a two-out hit to LaDonna and they intentionally walked Kyle Haff, who was yesterday’s hero that hit a walk-off grand slam in the seventh inning. Anthony Cinquemani was retired to end the inning.
West Islip starter Bobby DiCapua was terrific after that, he cruised through much of the game except for one hiccup in the fifth inning.
He allowed a leadoff double to Christian Fils-Aime. He walked Primm and a run scored on a ground out by Burke and Schultzeisz’ second hit of the day, which was a chopper off DiCapua’s glove for an infield single to extend the lead to 3-0.
Burke went out and fired a scoreless fifth inning, working around a lead off walk to Matt Walsh. Pause at that moment, and it appeared North Babylon was in complete control, needing just six outs to force a rubber game tomorrow.
The Lions made things interesting in the sixth inning. Cinquemani got things going with a hard single to center. Tim Weber ripped a double to get both runners into scoring position and DiCapua drew a walk to load the bases. Jack Altieri also drew a walk to get the Lions on the board, still with nobody out. A strikeout of Christian Esperon was the first out, and it was also the end of the day for Burke, who hit his pitch limit at 105.
The reliever Evan Christopher came on in relief. He allowed an infield single to third to Matt Walsh to make it 3-2, but ended the threat with the lead on an inning-ending ground out by LaDonna.
DiCapua threw a scoreless seventh inning and Christopher went back out to seal the deal.
Kyle Haff started off the bottom of the seventh with a double to right field. Cinquemani, arguably the team’s best clutch hitter smoked the game-tying hit off the wall in right field. Christopher was able to retire the next three batters to bring the game to extras.
DiCapua threw a scoreless eighth inning to finish his day and keep the game going.
From that point on, both offenses went dormant for several innings. Innings 9-12 featured great pitching and some quick innings. Brad Battaglini came on in relief and was terrific.
That brings us to the 13th when the real action occurred.
Schultzeisz got his fourth hit of the day, a double to lead off the inning. Ross Tallarico sacrificed him to third and Rob Wagner drove him in with a single that was deflected off the glove of Battaglini and into right field.
Christopher went back out for the bottom of the 13th looking to seal the deal. He struck out the first batter, but hit Nick Siano which was his third of the day. Matt Walsh smoked one to the fence in right field, off the right fielder’s glove which went for a game-tying triple. With the winning run 90 feet away, West Islip was determined to end it with one swing of the bat, which is exactly what LaDonna was able to do.
It was a well-played game by both sides and it was certainly a shame that someone needed to lose. Christopher fired 7.2 innings of relief.
The Lions improve to 8-1 on the season and 5-0 in conference play. They have put themselves two games ahead of North Babylon, who figures to be their steepest competition on the season. These two teams will finish off their three-game on Friday, although weather could become an issue and push it back to Saturday. That would benefit North Babylon, who could go back to ace Brian Primm.
