Walk-off single by Kyle Callahan and Rocky Point defeats Shoreham-Wading River, 4-3, in 10 innings ! pic.twitter.com/520eBR5wGZ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2019
Kyle Callahan ripped an RBI single to score Sean Hamilton in the bottom of the 10th inning to propel No. 2 Rocky Point to a 4-3 victory over No. 3 Shoreham-Wading River in the Suffolk A winner’s bracket.
“I’m so stoked,” said Callahan. “I believed the whole time that we were going to get it done. We came, we were waiting, we had opportunities but we finally came and got it done,” he added.
Equally as important to his walk-off hit was the gutsy performance of Mike Gunning. The senior who was voted Axcess Baseball‘s League VI MVP earlier this week was outstanding in this game. He went 3-for-5 with two RBI including a 2-R home run. He also had a tremendous impact on the mound, tossing five shutout innings with nine strikeouts and no walks allowed while yielding only two hits, keeping Shoreham-Wading River’s high-octane lineup at bay.
Let’s take it back though to the early innings, when it appeared this game would have a much different result.
The Wildcats of Shoreham-Wading River have their own Axcess League MVP on their team and he is their leadoff batter, D.J. Brown. He led the game off with an opposite field double, and scored on Mason Kelly’s two-run home run to left field. Just two batters in, it was 2-0 and even the most ardent Eagle’s fan–of which there are many–had to be a bit nervous.
The Eagles cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI single by that pesky Kyle Callahan to score Eric Maier. This rally occurred after the first two batters were retired. This is not uncommon for Rocky Point, who are often finding ways to manufacture runs while SWR is more of the traditional power-hitting team with a number of scholarship players in their lineup.
Neither team scored in the third or fourth inning, but that’s not to say there was no action.
Rocky Point had runners on first and second with one out for Sean Hamilton who crushed one off the fence in left field, just barely missing a three-run shot. The runner on second did not hustle and was unable to score. With one out, a fly out to shallow center field resulted in an 8-2 inning ending double play as Jared Sciarrino made a perfect throw to Aidan Hutchins to end the frame.
The Wildcats had the bases loaded in the fifth and third-place hitter Peter Minneci hit a sac fly to extend their lead to 3-1 which scored Nick Bettenhauser.
Blake Osness came on in relief on John Keane in the fifth. He allowed a bunt single to Trey Miller before Gunning unleashed a two-run shot to left field to tie the game up at 3-3.
The offenses went dormant after that, as each team was set down scoreless in the sixth, seventh, eighth and nine innings. Gunning was outstanding but so was Cullen SantaMaria for the Wildcats.He escaped a bases loaded jam in the ninth on a come backer to the mound and a fly out to right.
In the bottom of the 10th, a strikeout of the first batter sent up Sean Hamilton who hit a single to left field and advanced on a wild pitch. As is usually the case, the wild pitch came back to bite them as the next batter, Kyle Callahan, came through in a big way.
The Eagles have now won nine consecutive games. The reigning Class A Champs will have a couple days off to re-group as they wait for the losers’ bracket to sort itself out.
