In a game where they were behind from the start, the Long Island Strong Baseball Academy defeated the Long Island Orioles 5-4 in walk-off fashion at Baseball Heaven Thursday night.
The unconventional walk-off came in the bottom of the seventh inning where all hope of a decision other than a tie appeared to be lost. After he allowed a leadoff walk to Nick Stiles, Orioles relief pitcher Justin Obidenzo struck out back-to-back batters and it looked as if he was untouchable. With two outs and a tie imminent, Strong catcher Vincent Velasquez hit a routine fly ball to right field which hit the glove of the Orioles right fielder and fell. Stiles, hustling, then raced for home and beat out the relay throw to win the ballgame.
“I saw the ball down,” Stiles said gasping for air “Coach told me to go, I scored.”
RHP Jonathan Moore took the hill for the Strong and after a hot Orioles start he was pulled after two innings. The First inning was scoreless for both teams, but the Orioles scored three in the top of the second. Orioles Third Baseman, Steven Cascio lead off the inning with a line drive double down the left field line. Orioles starting pitcher, Thomas Goodwin, then helped himself with a single to right which advanced Cascio to third. Two batters later, Goodwin and Cascio came around to score on an RBI double to center field by Ajay Nair. Nair scored later in the inning. Through one and a half innings it was Orioles 3-0.
In the bottom of the third inning the Strong got a run back. Velasquez leadoff with a triple then scored on Michael Anderson’s line drive single to center field. After he allowed the first two batters of the inning to reach base, Goodwin limited the damage at one run by forcing a flyout and a 4-6-3 double play to retire the side.
The Orioles wasted no time earning the run they gave up back. In the top of the fourth inning, cleanup hitter Shawn Moffatt leadoff with a double to left field which one-hopped the fence. After a ground out, Moffatt scored as Goodwin roped a one out line drive up the middle to give himself some insurance. Goodwin was caught stealing for the second out and Strong relief pitcher, Ian Murray, struck out Vijay Nair for the third out.
In the bottom of the fifth, Stiles got things started for the Strong with a leadoff single. The next batter, Patrick Tadereste, reached base on an E-3, Stiles advanced to third on the play. Taderested stole second and with runners on second and third Goodwin retired the next two. Already with one RBI, Velasquez delivered for his team with a two out single to score Stiles and Tadereste.
“I’ve been in a slump lately,” Velasquez said “So it felt good to finally get a hit, drive in some runs and help the team win.”
The sixth inning was flawless, but the seventh brought some drama. In the top half of the inning, Stiles came into pitch for the Strong and he got himself into a jam after he allowed runners to reach second and third base. He left those base runners stranded however with two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice in the inning. In the bottom half, Stiles topped off his clutch inning of work as he scored the winning run.
Velasquez says the team hasn’t had much success lately, but it is great to get a team victory.
The Strong defeat the Orioles 5-4 in wall off fashion. Here’s Michael Anderson discussing his game tying 2 RBI single and his teams mentality tonight. pic.twitter.com/lFtAIzruL8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 28, 2019
“Energy hasn’t been there lately,” he said “So, I’ve been telling them to get the energy up. You know we haven’t been winning ball games lately in the league so it feels good to win.
