With the game knotted at 3-3 in the sixth inning, Sean Paprocki stepped up the bases loaded and a chance to give the Old Westbury Panthers the lead.
The Division-grad laced a two-run double down the right field line to give the Panthers a 5-3 lead. They continued to tack on that inning including a two-run single later in the inning by Mike Manetta and a two-run HR by Shaun Kaminski to break it wide open.
Old Westbury starting pitcher Adam Heidenfelder was working very hard, he needed 111 pitches to get through six innings but he was able to make the big pitches when he needed to. He finished with eight strikeouts and eight hits allowed with two walks. Heidenfelder was Old Westbury’s best pitcher throughout the season, he compiled an ERA of 1.25 and a K:BB ratio of 33:6.
Adam Heidenfelder was the winning pitcher less than one year removed from major shoulder surgery. He is the @BsbLifestyle101 Player of the Game. Old Westbury will face Merchant Marine Academy on Friday at 4pm pic.twitter.com/5oGgYiRqFn
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 1, 2019
He was able to work with an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by John Condon to drive in Mike Manetta in the first inning.
The Dolphins tied it up in the third, but the Panthers responded back quickly with a massive two-run HR by Peter Capel, which Heidenfelder called “one of the furthest home runs I’ve seen”. It was his 100th hit over the past two seasons.
Heidenfelder ran into some trouble in the fifth when the Dolphins tied it up again on RBI hits by Michael Grisanti and Anthony Nocero.
At that moment, it appeared the game might be a high-scoring back-and-forth affair.
Half of it was accurate, as the Panthers broke the game wide open in the sixth inning to take a command 11-3 lead. At that point, the game was no longer in question.
The Old Westbury staff did not mess around, as they brought in their top reliever, Joe Sarni to finish off the ball game. He went the final three innings, allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts.
The Panthers offense was terrific, notching 11 hits. They got multi-hit games from Condon, Capel and Drew Robertson.
They took advantage of five errors by the Dolphins which helped them break the game open.
The No. 3 Panthers advance to the double-elimination portion of the Skyline Conference tournament which will begin on Friday at host Farmingdale State College. They will face No. 2 USMMA on Friday at 4pm with a likely date against Andrew Spinnenweber the best pitcher in the conference for the past two seasons.
