by Christopher Sacchi
Sunday night’s Hamptons League game between the Southampton Breakers and the Westhampton Aviators was ultimately decided by the two starting pitchers, except maybe not the way most would have thought coming in.
Getting the starting nod for the visiting Breakers was right hander Joe Valentino, whose freshman season at Suffolk County Community College speak was remarkable: an 8-0 record in nine starts that featured five complete games along with 92 strikeouts and a 1.12 ERA in 48.2 innings pitched. Add in five scoreless innings of one-hit ball in his first Hamptons League start, and Valentino appeared ready to continue pitching outstanding baseball.
On the other end, Westhampton sent right hand pitcher Harrison Cohen to the mound in the top of the first inning. While Valentino enjoyed a decorated freshman season prior, Cohen was coming off a sophomore school season in which he did not pitch.
Ten strikeouts in seven scoreless innings for Harrison Cohen of the @WHAviators in a 10-0 victory over the @SH_Breakers. @SachChristopher talks with the right-hander about a performance that included 14 straight retired batters. pic.twitter.com/b6SpP1LAnd
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 9, 2019
However, it was Cohen who took the win on Sunday with a dominant performance: 10 strikeouts in 7 scoreless innings.
“I felt good out there,” Cohen said postgame. “I wanted to make sure I sequenced my slider and my fastball, and I felt I did really good job with that, and kept hitters off balance.”
Between the second and seventh innings, the righty from George Washington retired 16 batters in a row.
Cohen’s teammates supported him with five runs off of Valentino in his 3 and one third innings pitched. Control was an issue for Valentino the entire game, and it began as early as the first batter, Dan Franchi, who walked. Valentino verbally disagreed with a few of home plate umpire Adam Martinez’s calls during that at-bat and throughout the first inning, and the two spoke before Valentino warmed up for his second inning of work.
That bottom of the second inning started with a hit batsman, as Sean O’Keefe took one off the elbow on the first pitch. He later came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Josh Harvey to open up the scoring for the Aviators.
Cohen struck out the side in the top of the third inning, and Zambito followed with a scoreless third. The fourth inning of play featured another 1-2-3 for Cohen and an early departure from his counterpart who started alongside him.
O’Keefe walked to lead off the home forth, as did Nick Bottari to follow. After 3 straight balls to open the at-bat to Dave Franchi, Valentino served up a single up the middle for a pair of runs.
Jack Harnisch and Frankie Gomez were also walked by Valentino and came around to score. After the fifth walk of the inning to Joe Stewart forced in Gomez, Breakers manager Rob Cafiero and pitching coach John Clark had seen enough from Valentno, who’s night was done after five earned runs and six bases-on-balls allowed.
Valentino’s final line could have looked worse if not for a double play induced by lefty Cole Humes, who entered with the bases loaded and one out.
The score remained 5-0 Aviators until the eighth thanks to fine pitching by Jefferson Cohen and Humes. Cohen’s streak of retiring 14 batters came to an end in his final inning of work, the seventh, and the bases were loaded with two outs. With a shutout on the line, Cohen struck out Justice Thompson, his tenth of the game.
Westhampton turned to six foot six right hander Tyler Wilson for the top of the eighth inning, who responded with a scoreless frame. The Aviators entered the bottom of the eight looking for some extra run support, and came out with a victory. Five runs meant a 10-0 game, and the ten run advantage after seven innings incites a mercy rule to end the game. Bailey Peterson ensured the mercy with a two RBI double
