The Westhampton Aviators bats came alive on Friday night as they scored 17 runs on 16 hits, defeating the Shelter Island Bucks 17-7 in eight innings. With the victory, and Riverhead’s loss tonight, the Aviators, now 24-11-2, are just one game behind Riverhead for the first seed in the Hamptons League playoffs, beginning next Wednesday.
Florida Southern’s Reed Burke got the start for the Aviators. He threw four and a third innings, giving up two runs, one earned on three hits. Burke retired the first eleven batters he faced.
Westhampton took advantage of a Shelter Island error in the outfield too score three unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Shelter Island starter Trevor Olson (Xavier). The third run came off of a John Tuccillo (Stony Brook) rbi single.
Westhampton Left fielder Jason Bottari of Albany lead off the bottom of the third inning with a double. He advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored the fourth run of the game for the Aviators on a Landon Gray (Tennessee) ground ball.
Aviators’ First Baseman Sean O’Keefe (Western Michigan) recorded the first of his four hits, a single to left, with one out, and advanced to third on Joe Stewart’s (Michigan State) double. O’Keefe scored on Morgan McCarthy’s (Farmingdale) sacrifice fly to right, and Stewart followed him, scoring on a ground ball to the right side off Dan Franchi’s (Binghamton) bat. Westhampton took a 6-0 lead into the fifth inning.
Shelter Island Shortstop Bryce Daniel of Dartmouth singled to left and stole second to begin the fifth inning. Second Baseman Mike Guanci Jr of Trinity College drove him in for the Bucks’ first run of the game. Catcher Andy Semo (Fordham) was hit by a pitch and that ended Burke’s start. He was replaced by Tucker Whittman of UMass Amherst. Guanci Jr advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a throwing error, cutting the Aviator lead to 6-2 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning.
Westhampton answered back in the bottom of the fifth off of Bucks reliever Jack Metzger of Troy University. He gave up three runs, two earned, on three hits in an inning of work. Back to back one out doubles for Landon Gray and Chaney Dodge (Northwestern State) pushed the Aviator lead to 7-2. With two outs, O’Keefe hit homered to center field, scoring Dodge, and pushing Westhampton ahead 9-2 after five innings.
Whittman came back out for the sixth. Eddie Satisky of Chattanooga State Tech CC walked and stole second to begin the inning. He scored on an rbi single from UMass Amherst’s Dylan Judd. Judd stole second, followed by another walk to Jackson Kaplowitz (Xavier). Back to back singles for Guanci Jr and Semo scored Judd and Kaplowitz, cutting the Westhampton lead to 9-5.
Shelter Island sent Brandon Smith of Grand View College to the mound, and the Aviators, up 9-5, wasted no time getting those runs back. Dan Franchi led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run, followed up by a pinch hit home run from Hofstra’s Frankie Gomez, putting Westhampton up 11-5. After a walk and a hit by pitch, Sean O’Keefe blaster the Aviators third home run of the inning, and his second of the day, a three run shot giving the Aviators a 14-5 lead after six innings.
In the top of the seventh, Ryan Foran of St Joseph’s came to the mound for the Aviators. John Shields (Lipscomb) hit a lead off double to right field for Shelter Island. He scored on a one out single off of the bat of Larson Fontenot (Northwestern State). Fontenot scored later in the inning on a throwing error, cutting the Aviator lead to 14-7 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
` Shelter Island shook up their lineup by sending their designated hitter Dylan Judd to the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning. Judd gave up a lead off single to Morgan McCarthy, his first hit as an Aviator, but induced a line out and a 4-6-3 double play to set Westhampton down in order.
Foran pitched a 1-2-3 top of the eighth for the Aviators, setting up their 3 run bottom of the eighth, to finish the mercy victory. David Franchi (NYIT), who came in the game earlier for Shortstop Eric Callahan (Millersville) singled to lead off the eighth. Landon Gray followed it up with a base hit of his own. Singles for Tuccilo, and O’Keefe scored one run. Joe Stewart walked with the bases loaded to score the second run of the inning, and finally a two out single down the right field line for Dan Franchi scored the third and final run of the bottom of the eighth, giving Westhampton the 17-7 mercy victory.
Sean O’Keefe finished 4-5 with five runs batter in, two singles and two home runs. His seven total home runs make him the HCBL home run leader. Dan Franchi added three runs batted in on two hits. Tucker Whittman received the victory on the mound, while starter Trevor Olson got the loss for the Bucks.
An 8 inning mercy victory, 17-7 for the @WHAviators over @SIBucks. @mattytredeuce spoke with Sean O’Keefe after his huge day at the plate, 4-5 2 HR’s, 5 ribbies. Sean is now the @HamptonsLeague home run leader with 7. Tonight’s interview has been brought to you by @hamptoncoffee pic.twitter.com/QfzqA2kB01
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 20, 2019
Westhampton, now one game behind the Riverhead Tomcats for first place will host the North Fork Ospreys today, while the Bucks will travel to Southampton High School to take on the Breakers. Both games will begin at 11am
