Farmingdale, NY–
It was a long day of baseball in day one of the Skyline Conference double-elimination tournament, but aside some rain delays and thick fog, there was no surprised. Here’s how it went down:
Game 1:
Alex Mesaros had the go-ahead hit in the fifth inning. Here he is speaking about the win pic.twitter.com/1PZk6ecroZ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 3, 2019
Christian Tessitore and Andrew Spinnenweber squared off in a battle of hard-throwing RHPs.
Merchant Marines got off to a quick 1-0 start in the second inning when Kyle Cunningham broke on contact with the infield drawn in on a ground ball to shortstop off the bat of Matt Mundorf. It seemed aggressive, but his speed was the difference as he beat the throw home. They added another run in the second inning on an infield single off the bat of Vincenzo Alteri which scored Colin Baker.
Spinnenweber came out with his best stuff, retiring the first nine batters in order without breaking a sweat but ran into trouble in the fourth inning.
Mike Manetta got things going with a single, and moved to second on Brandon Wilson‘s single. John Condon continued his red-hot season with an RBI single to cut the deficit in half. A walk to Peter Capel loaded the bases and Shaun Kaminski tied it up with an RBI single of his own.
When it appeared Spinnenweber on the ropes, he did his best work of the day. He got a force at the plate and struck out the next two batters to leave the bases loaded. It did take him 37 pitches which took prevented him from firing a complete game.
The USMMA offense went back to work in the fifth, though.
Two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for DH Alex Mesaros. He came through with a huge bases-clearing double to score Garrett Aichele, Vincenzo Alteri and Kyle Cunningham.
With a three-run lead, Spinnenweber was not about to let the game slip away for a second time. The All-American RHP allowed two singles in the sixth inning but escaped unscathed. He also threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning with two strikeouts. He finished his afternoon with nine strikeouts, one walk and six hits.
Tessitore wound up going eight innings, but the damage was already done. Andrew Hunt threw a scoreless eighth inning and Cunningham came on to record his 12th save of the season to seal the deal.
Game 2:
Final: Farmingdale 12, Maritime 1
WP: Steven BurkeFarmingdale will play USMMA at 10am. Winner of that punches their ticket to the championship pic.twitter.com/aq1Rf5EsZd
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 3, 2019
No. 1 seed Farmingdale sent Steven Burke to the mound. He allowed the first two runners to reach base, before striking out the next two batters. Joe Scerra hit a dribbler along the third base line that drove in Antonio Diaz to get Maritime on the board.
That was all he would allow on this day. The College of St. Rose-transfer was lights-out for the remainder of his outing and the Farmingdale bats went to work right away.
They put up a five-spot in the first inning. Mike Amandola tied up the game with an RBI single and Morgan McCarthy delivered the go-ahead two-run single to score him and Ryan DePalma. They added two more runs on an error by the third baseman.
The Rams opened up a 7-1 lead in the second inning. Vinny Rice came up with two runners on and crushed the ball over the fence for what appeared to be a three-run home run, but in a bizarre play, it was ruled he did not touch home plate on his home run trot, which went down as a two-run triple.
Regardless, the game was already broken up. The Rams added insurance runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.
Ryan Mallon fired a scoreless eighth and Logan Hicks took care of the ninth.
The Rams notched 14 hits, with three hits apiece by McCarthy, Vin Napolitano and Amandola. It was their 30th win of the season.
Later in the evening, Old Westbury defeated Maritime in an elimination game. Patrick Quinn fired a complete game shutout and the Panthers staved off elimination with a 7-0 victory to keep their season alive. They will face the loser of Farmingdale-USMMA in the second game of the day tomorrow.
The pitching match up is expected to be Matthew Constantine and Joe Raab. The winner punches their ticket to the championship game on Sunday. The loser will need to play Old Westbury.
