It’s tough to have a more competitive, intense baseball game between two Suffolk County powerhouses than the one we just saw at Ward Melville to send the Patriots into the Class AA semifinals next week.
Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth, right fielder Matt Franco crushed a game-winning three-run home run to left center field to give Ward Melville an 8-6 lead, one that they would not relinquish.
The game was the definition of back-and-forth as the Patriots jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Ethan Farino in the first inning.
They added to that in the bottom of the third when Brady Doran led off with a double to right center field and advanced to third when Matt Maurer laid down a perfect bunt and reached first safely. After a walk to Ethan Farino, Anthony Pascale crushed a grand slam to open up a 5-0 lead.
Matt Franco hit a go-ahead 3-R Home Run to send Ward Melville into the semifinals with an 8-6 victory over Commack. Anthony Pascale hit a grand slam to open up a 5-0 lead early in the game @MuddyLocker1 pic.twitter.com/1RQnKsLwsf
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2019
The game appeared to be in hand with UCONN-commit Max Nielsen cruising through his first three innings with seven strikeouts and no hits allowed.
The game shifted dramatically in the fourth inning when Commack took advantage of back-to-back walks issued to Jack Reardon and Patrick McNelis when Jake Krzemienski smoked a long three-run home run to cut the deficit to 5-3. After a fly ball was dropped in left field, the Cougars cut the lead to one on an RBI ground out.
Nick Goldberg came on in relief for Commack and he was effective, he held the fort for a few innings keeping Ward Melville scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, though, he exited after walking Matt Maurer and Ethan Farino. He gave way to hard-throwing sophomore Craig Pihlkar. After striking out two batters, he was on the verge of escaping unscathed but Franco got into one and crushed the game-winning three-run home run.
Ethan Farino, who came on in the sixth inning and fired a 1-2-3 inning, worked around one base runner to seal the deal and earn the victory.
With the victory, the Patriots return to the semifinals once again. They will face a tough West Islip team that has won all three of their playoff games. They will likely send junior Bobby DiCapua to the mound, who nearly tossed a no-hitter last week but wound up with a 1-hit shutout over Pat-Med.
