FINAL: Herricks 5 Mepham 2
WP: Chris Marshiano (CG) pic.twitter.com/lYnp49YQHO
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 16, 2019
In a back-and-forth battle, Herricks defeated Mepham on Tuesday afternoon by a score of 5-2. With the victory, Herricks now improves to 4-0 on the young season, while Mepham falls to 1-3.
Herricks wasted no time getting runs on the board, as Matt Yip stole home on a throw back to the pitcher, providing them with an early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st.
However, this lead didn’t last very long. Brendan Keane displayed aggressive base running for Mepham on a throw down to second, as he stole home to tie the game up at 1-1 in the bottom of the 2nd. This wasn’t the only instance of aggressive base running we saw in this game.
Fast forward to the top of the 4th inning, and Herricks regained the lead on a two-out RBI double courtesy of Sean Park.
The main story line of this game was Herricks’ ability to work out of jams consistently throughout the game.
With bases loaded and one out, pitcher Chris Marshiano forced a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the bottom of the 4th inning, maintaining the lead.
Once again, head coach Eric Passman leaned on aggressive base running to get his team back in the ballgame. With men on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the 5th, coach Passman called for an early steal. As a result, the runner on first got into a pickle and was successful in his attempt to have Gianni Macchio score from third. This knotted the game up at 2-2.
Heading into the 7th, this remained a tie ballgame. Herricks chance to take the lead came first in the 7th inning and they did not disappoint.
With a man on first and third with one out, Will McCreery stepped up to the plate. He delivered an RBI double up the middle, driving in the go-ahead run. Peter Carreca cashed in with an infield RBI single, followed by a Mike Scordo HBP. Suddenly, Herricks had a three-run lead to work with heading into the bottom of the 7th.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play and make things happen and you know it’s baseball anything can happen I just had to put the ball in play,” said McCreery following his go-ahead RBI.
Mepham threatened with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the 7th, but Marshiano got the batter to line out into a game ending double play, securing the 5-2 victory.
Marshiano went the distance on the mound, allowing four hits, two earned runs, four walks and struck out four batters.
“Today all my pitches were working and I knew I could trust my defense out there and this win really helps us out, we’re 4-0 now, have momentum going into the series and we’re looking forward to another win tomorrow,” said Marshiano.
Game two of this series will take place tomorrow at Herricks High School.
