Thomas Papadopoulos did all the little things for the @RHTomcats in a 5-2 victory over the @SagHbrWhalers; a sacrifice fly RBI, ground ball RBI, and sacrifice bunt. He talks with @SachChristopher about playing small ball in today’s style of play. pic.twitter.com/woF0xgiGkr
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 27, 2019
by Chris Sacchi
In today’s style of play in Major League Baseball, with the number of home-runs reaching an all-time high, the concept of “small ball” (bunting, sacrificing outs for runs, moving runners over) has gotten lost in the shuffle.
In a 5-2 victory for the Riverhead Tomcats over the Sag Harbor Whalers, outfielder Thomas Papadopoulos took it back to old times by using small ball to give his team the win.
Papadopoulos (St. Johns) had a sacrifice fly RBI, a fielder’s choice RBI, and a sacrifice bunt in tonight’s victory.
The sac fly came in the fourth inning to score Daniel Fallacaro (Sacred Heart University) to give Riverhead a 2-0 lead.
The Tomcats scored the first run thanks to another instance of old-school baseball; the stolen base. Leadoff man Robert Gallagher walked, stole second, and scored on an error in the infield, using his speed to push across the first run of the game.
Sag Harbor tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the third thanks to some small ball themselves. Johnny Lopez led off the inning with a walk, reached second on a fielder’s choice, and stole third, and later come around to score.
Riverhead added two more in the top of the sixth to make it 4-1, the first earned runs against Whalers starter Ryan Taurek. Bryce Willits scores thanks to the RBI fielder’s choice from Papadopoulos, and Daniel Fallacaro scored on a Louis Antos base hit.
River Towns hit a homerun In the top of the eighth to cut the deficit to 4-2, and Sag Harbor continued the rally with an Andrew Bates double with two outs. Tomcats manager Bill Ianniciello called upon his closer Josh Becker (UMass-Amhers at Lowell) for the beginning of a four out save. Becker induced a grounder back to himself, and he flipped onto the first baseman Bryce Wallace for the out.
Nicholas Manesis hit a double and later came around to score in the bottom half of the eighth to make it a 5-2 game in favor of Riverhead, and Becker closed it out in the ninth to secure his third save, as he’s yet to give up a run in 13.1 for Riverhead this season.
Becker closed off a strong outing from Penn State lefthander Jeffery Taylor, who allowed one earned run and four hits through six innings pitched to secure the win.
Taylor’s counterpart, Taurek, gave up four runs (two earned) in six innings pitched and the loss.
