The North Fork Ospreys and the Sag Harbor Whalers settled for a split of today’s Hamptons League doubleheader at Baseball Heaven. Sag Harbor is now 10-5 with the split, as the Ospreys are 3-14.
GAME 1
The visiting North Fork Ospreys went down quietly in the first inning of game 1 against Sag Harbor starting pitcher Ryan Taurek of St Mary’s of California. In the seven inning game, Taurek tossed a complete game shutout giving up only two hits, striking out five.
The Sag Harbor offense got to North Fork starter Justin Baeyens (STAC) early as they exploded for seven first inning runs. Leadoff man River Town (LSU at Eunice) singled followed by a walk to second baseman Will Strauss of McDaniel College. Bucknell’s Peter Marren singled to load the bases before Ramon Jimenez (Boston College) drove in Town for the first run of the game. The next batter, the designated hitter out of Stonehill College Matt Donlan drove in Strauss with a sac fly to left for the second run. Center fielder Andrew Bates then drove in Marren with a single before Left Fielder Tommy Courtney flew out for the second out. Two more runs came in as Matt Stone reached on an error, and he was driven in by Matt Woods’ double. Finally, Woods scored on a second North Fork error to give the Whalers a 7-0 lead after one inning. North Fork’s Justin Baeyens finished his three innings on the mound, giving up seven runs, two earned, on five hits.
North Fork did not record their first hit of the game until the top of the fourth inning. Designated hitter Nick Jones of Eastern Michigan University singled to lead off the inning. After Isaac Deveaux grounded out to third, third baseman Tyler Gillespy singled to put runners on the corners with one out. A pop fly to short, and a groundball to second would halt the scoring chance for North Fork, and get Taurek through his 4th inning without giving up a run.
In the bottom half of the 4th, Sag Harbor plated two more runs on a Matt Donlan double. The next batter, Andrew Bates, singled but Donlan was thrown out at home on the relay from Ospreys Shortstop Javier Vaz to end the inning.
With a chance to put the game away due to mercy in the bottom of the 5th inning, the Whalers left the bases loaded, as North Fork reliever Mike Randazzo was able to pitch out of a jam. One inning later however, Shortstop Matt Woods drove in Ramon Jimenez for the 10th run of the game, ending the contest due to the mercy rule. Sag Harbor’s Ryan Taurek picked up the victory, and North Fork’s Justin Baeyens received the loss. Sag Harbor Centerfielder Andrew Bates finished the game 4-4 with three singles, a double, and an RBI.
GAME 2
Looking to go home with a split, the North Fork Ospreys sent Pace University right hander Joe Pizzingrillo to the mound. Pizzingrillo worked through some early trouble to keep the Whalers off the board in the first. After the leadoff man River Town reached on an error, and John Lopez singled, North Fork’s starter was able to set down the next three batters, striking out Lucas Stalman, and retiring Peter Marren and Andrew Bates on groundballs.
The Ospreys were held scoreless in the first inning as well, by Sag Harbor starting pitcher Nick Murray (Cincinnati). The only highlight being Javier Vaz’ double to right field. After a scoreless first inning, and a leadoff strikeout for Sag Harbor’s Will Strauss, designated hitter Matt Woods broke the early tie by homering off of Pizzingrillo to right field for a 1-0 lead. Pizzingrillo went on to retire five straight to get through the second and third innings.
Drake Peggs of Eastern Michigan lead off the bottom of the third with a 10 pitch walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He advanced to third on Joe Tardiff’s groundball to the right side, and was driven in to tie the game on a
Javier Vaz sacrifice fly to left field.
With the score now tied at one run each, Sag Harbor broke the game open with a five run top of the fourth inning. Joe Pizzingrillo gave up three straight singles to start the inning, followed by a walk. With a 2-1 lead and the bases loaded, Peter Giombetti grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, scoring another run. Brendan Dowd and River Town both ripped rbi singles to push the lead to 5-1. John Lopez drove in Town, but was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double, ending the five run top of the fourth.
Down 6-1, the Ospreys wasted little time getting themselves back into the game. After Deveaux’s leadoff strikeout, Tyler White doubled, followed by an infield single off the bat of Dom Cepulio. Anthony Fontana then walked on four pitches to load the bases with one out. Gillespy, Peggs, and Tardiff all singled in one run each, as the bases remained loaded and the score became 5-4. Vaz grounded out to first base for the second out of the inning, scoring the tying run. Nick Jones then singled in Tardiff for the sixth and final run of the bottom of the fourth, giving North Fork a 7-6 lead.
Heading into the top of the fifth, Pace University’s Frankie Giuliano came on to relieve Pizzingrillo. Giuliano finished the last three innings for the Ospreys, giving up only one hit, striking out four.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Javier Vaz provided some much needed insurance by blasting a two run home run to right field to give the Ospreys a 9-6 lead heading into the final frame. Giuliano hit the leadoff batter John Lopez with a pitch in the seventh, but a fly ball and two strikeouts ended the game for North Fork, giving them their third win of the season. Joe Pizzingrillo’s four innings of work earned him the victory, as Nick Murray received the loss.
After falling 10-0 in game 1, the @NForkOspreys came back to defeat the @SagHbrWhalers 9-6 in game two, highlighted by a 2 run shot to right field off the bat of Javier Vaz in the bottom of the 6th. Javier spoke to reporter @mattytredeuce after the game. @HamptonsLeague pic.twitter.com/8lO6Bjixhx
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2019
The Sag Harbor Whalers are back in action tomorrow as they will face the Shelter Island Bucks at 5pm on the road. The North Fork Ospreys are off tomorrow, before they hit the road to take on Southampton Saturday at 5pm.
