The North Fork Ospreys picked up their fourth victory of the season last night as they defeated the Riverhead Tomcats 6-4 at home, at Jean Cochran Park, in Peconic, NY. Riverhead had previously defeated North Fork in the first two games of the season series.
Adelphi’s Josh Rovner started the game on the mound for North Fork, giving up four runs, two earned, on seven hits, through five innings. Riverhead’s Rob Gallagher (UMass Lowell) popped up to shallow center on the first pitch of the game, and was retired off of a sliding, shoestring grab by North Fork’s Joe Tardiff of Cortland. Riverhead Right fielder Jason Coules of Fordham then clobbered a fastball over the right field wall to give the Tomcats their first lead of the game at 1-0. Rovner settled in and recorded two straight outs after the home run.
Right hander Brian Hendry of St John’s got the nod for Riverhead, and he went three innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit, striking out six. Tardiff lead the bottom half of the first off reaching on an error. He advanced to second on a groundball off of the bat of Tyler Gillespy (Campbell), then to third on an opposite field single from Javier Vaz of LSU Eunice. Tardiff tied the game up by scoring on a wild pitch. North Fork took the lead in the bottom of the third with two outs. Riverhead’s Hendry struck out the first two batters of the inning, but walked four straight at the top of the order, the final being Isaac Deveauk (Utah) with the bases loaded, for a 2-1 North Fork lead.
Riverhead wasted no time breaking even once again with North Fork. Bryce Willits of St Mary’s College walked to begin the top of the fourth, followed by a Bryce Wallace single, advancing Willets to third. Sacred Heart’s Dan Fallacaro reached on an infield single, scoring Willets and tying the game at two after four innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, Riverhead went to reliever Colton Reitan from Wesleyan who went three innings fiving up a run on four hits. In the top of the fifth, Riverhead broke the tie by scoring two more runs. Shortstop Noah Centeno of Sacred Heart singled to lead off the inning, and Gallagher bunted him over, and reached first after an error. Willets doubled in Centeno, and then Gallagher came in one batter later off of a Wallace single, pushing Riverhead’s lead to 4-2 through five innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Ospreys cut the lead in half as Tyrese Clayborne of North Central Texas College lead off with a single to left, advanced to second on a baulk, third on a fly ball to deep right field, and then scored on a Joe Tardiff single. On the other side of the ball, North Fork brought in reliever Kevin Glasser of Adelphi in the sixth to keep the game within reach, and he did just that. He struck out his first five batters, eventually receiving the win with four innings of lights out relief, giving up only one baserunner, a Jason Coules single in the seventh, and striking out seven.
With time running out, the Ospreys looked to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, off of new Riverhead pitcher Joe Murphy of NYIT. Designated hitter Isaac Deveaux reached with one out after a hit by pitch, and was doubled in by Anthony Fontana of Furman with two outs, tying the game at four. The next batter Clayborne singled but Fontana was thrown out at home by centerfielder Rob Gallagher to keep the game tied heading into the eighth inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Riverhead sent second baseman Brian Craven of Richmond to the mound, and moved designated hitter Louis Antos (Queens) to second, sacrificing the DH in the process. North Fork left fielder Matt Heffernan (Fredonia) got things started with a one out single. Tardiff and Gillespy singled as well to load the bases, and then everyone advanced on a wild pitch, giving the Ospreys the lead at 5-4. Javier Vaz was the fourth straight Osprey to single, this time scoring Tardiff to push the lead to 6-4, before Antos would replace Craven on the mound and finish the inning.
In @HamptonsLeague action, the @NForkOspreys come back to pick up a 6-4 victory over the @RHTomcats. Kevin Glasser got the win with 4 lockdown innings out of the bullpen. @mattytredeuce spoke with Kevin after the win, brought to you by @hamptoncoffee. pic.twitter.com/FJTwEKsnQg
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 24, 2019
Kevin Glasser finished his dominant pitching performance in the top of the ninth, retiring Riverhead in order on a fly ball to each of the three outfielders to seal the deal on North Fork’s fourth win of the season. The Ospreys, now 4-15, will stay at home tonight to face the Long Island Road Warriors at 7pm. Riverhead, now 9-6-1, will host the Sag Harbor Whalers at 5pm at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton.
