Chase Borowtiz held the @RHTomcats to six scoreless innings today in a 10-1 victory for the Westhampton Aviators. He talked with @SachChristopher about which pitch felt best out of his hand today, and the game plan for taking on of the hottest hitting teams in the league. pic.twitter.com/ssFSXMZZ3g
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 8, 2019
A big part of the strong 4-1 start coming into tonight’s Riverhead Tomcats game against the Westhampton Aviators was right hander Blake Hendry. The St. John’s rising sophomore picked up the win on opening day with 5 innings of one-hit shutout ball with seven strikeouts.
Hendry pitched five innings today, too, but not after giving up five runs in a 10-1 loss. The Aviators jumped on Hendry early; the top of the order of Dan Frenchi, EJ Cumbo, and Ryan Ford all reached base, and Sean O’Keefe hit a double to score two of the four first inning runs. Chaney Dodge scored O’Keefe, and 20 minute top of the first saw four runs as the Aviators batted around.
After a quiet bottom of the first, the Aviators added another as O’Keefe, Western Michigan University product, hit his second double and came around to score on a Bailey Peterson RBI single.
Hendry settled in and retired the final 9 out of 10 hitters he faced to finish through five innings, pitching more like his counterpart, Chase Borowitz. Borowitz, a right hander from Binghamton University, stifled what had been a productive early season Tomcats offense; 21 runs in the last two games, 32 through the first five games of the season.
Borowitz’s fastball command was elite in this game, leading him to six scoreless innings. He continually painted the corners, particularly the lower part of the strike zone. While Hendry often overthrew his fastball early on the game, leaving them up in the zone for hard hit balls or getting behind in counts, Borowitz was spotting his fastball low for grounders and strikes.
The Aviators capitalized on an improved Hendry leaving the game after five innings, scoring three runs against right hander Landon Smith in the sixth from a bases-clearing triple from Bailey Peterson.
The Tomcats trotted our position players on the mound of the eighth and ninth innings. Louis Antos and Noah Centeno gave up one run each in their first pitching appearances since high school.
Two doubles by Centeno and Markell Graham gave Riverhead their lone run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the 10-1 defeat at their home field, Veteran’s Memorial Park.
With the loss. the Tomcats fall to 4-2, while the Aviators improve to 4-2.
