Brock Murtha on Sayville’s Game 1 victory. pic.twitter.com/SccMR2zoGo
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2019
Sayville took Game 1 of the Suffolk Class A finals, beating Rocky Point in eight innings by a score of 4-2.
Right off the bat, it looked to be a pitchers’ duel, with Rob Milopsky getting the start for Rocky Point, facing off against Brock Murtha for Sayville. It certainly lived up to expectations, as the game required extra innings, with both starters each only allowing one run through the first seven innings.
The hard throwing right handers traded zeroes for the first three innings, with Murtha particularly dominant, recording six strikeouts and only allowing one hit the first time through the order. He also contributed at the plate, leading off the top of the fourth inning with a no doubt home run to left field, for his Long Island leading 10th of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rocky Point fought back. Cody Miller worked a leadoff walk, which was followed up by a hit batsman, Mike Gunning. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners to scoring position, Rob Milopsky hit a shallow fly ball to left field. Miller tagged up and came in to score to make it a 1-1 game. However, Murtha was able to limit that damage, and the score remained 1-1.
Neither team could push across an additional run in the seventh inning, and so the many fans in attendance were gifted with free baseball. Sayville wasted no time, immediately working a leadoff walk. A sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly moved the go-ahead run over to third base, with Murtha coming to the plate. Rocky Point elected to intentionally walk him, which set the stage for Brock Murtha.
Rocky Point elected to intentionally walk Murtha with the go-ahead run just 90 feet away. He took his base, and then stole second, advancing without a throw. Jack Quinlan came up to the plate with a chance to give his team the lead. He hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who could not come up with it cleanly, allowing both runners to score, and giving Sayville a 3-1 lead. After allowing a single to put runners on the corners, Milopsky’s day on the mound was done.
In to pitch was Gunning, who allowed a single to bring in another run, before getting out of the inning. Sayville now had a 4-1 lead, and was three outs away from a victory. The last three outs did not come easy, as the Eagles tried to fight their way back.
Gunning hit a blooper down the left field line, and hustled his way to second. Alexander Bonacci followed that up with a booming double to left field to bring Gunning home, cutting their deficit to 4-2. Murtha bent, but did not break, as he retired the next two batters, striking out the final batter of the game.
While Murtha certainly had a dominant day on the mound with 11 punch outs over eight innings, he was also appreciative of his fielders, saying, “great defense the whole time in the field, and that really made a difference today”.
Sayville is now just a win away from securing their first county championship in program history. They will have the chance to do so on Monday at their home field, where Brock Murtha said “we have all the confidence in the world playing at that field, we barely ever lose there.”
