Derek Yalon comes up huge with back-to-back strikeouts with runners on 2nd & 3rd. Connetquot leads 5-3, bottom 6 pic.twitter.com/V9reqOFBQ0
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 3, 2019
In front of a packed house and facing elimination, Derek Yalon came up huge with a six-out save to allow Connetquot to force a decisive Game 3 of the Suffolk County AA Finals, with a 5-4 victory.
The T-Birds hung on by the skin of their teeth in a game in which they committed seven errors, but stranded the tying run in scoring position in the seventh inning as Ward Melville threatened to come-from-behind.
The first inning featured the most action in the game as the Patriots came out of the gate hot scoring three runs (two earned) against Joey Savino–the top prep pitching prospect on Long Island. Brady Doran got things going with a lead off walk and stole second. He advanced on Ethan Farino‘s infield single and scored on an error by the second baseman. Max Nielsen, the hero in Game 1, came through with a big RBI single to make it 2-0 and a dropped infield pop up extended the lead to 3-0.
Undaunted, the T-Birds fought back against Marist-commit Ethan Farino, scoring twice in the home half of the first. After a single, an error and an infield single, Matt Brown-Eiring just missed a grand slam but settled for a sac fly to get his team on the board. Josh McGee followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Savino settled in, working around an error to throw a scoreless second inning and a 1-2-3 third inning.
The T-Birds bats went to work in the bottom of the third. Alex Ungar started things off with a walk, Brown-Eiring ripped an RBI double to tie the game at 3-3. Josh McGee followed with a single and Derek Yalon gave them the lead with a single. Joe Zimmerman extended the lead to 5-3 with an RBI ground out to third.
Savino worked around an error in the fourth and fired a 1-2-3 fifth inning. He exited after 78 pitches and gave way to Derek Yalon.
Consecutive errors opened up the top of the sixth which put the home faithful on pins and needles, but after a sacrifice bunt, Yalon flexed his muscles with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
Things got hairy once again in the seventh with two outs and nobody on when Brady Doran smoked a double off the base of the wall in right, followed by a walk and another error to score a run. With the game on the line, a ground out to Brown-Eiring ended the rally and gave the T-Birds a 5-4 victory.
Game 3 will be played tomorrow. Connetquot will be looking for their first County Championship since 2015, but standing in their way will likely be Max Nielsen, coming off an 18-strikeout master piece against West Islip last Thursday. Ward Melville is looking for their first title since 2013. I expect the T-Birds to send Brown-Eiring to the mound, who is coming off a CG shutout of his own with 10 strikeouts.
