And the St. Joseph’s Golden Eagles are the 2018 Skyline Conference Champions! pic.twitter.com/XsYIblRhGb
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 6, 2018
Like the legendary Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra said, “it’s deja vu all over again!”
Just as they did in 2016, the St. Joseph’s Golden Eagles captured the Skyline Conference championship in an 11-inning extra inning thriller at Farmingdale State College.
The big hit came by pinch-hitter Gehrig Montoro to score Tyler Crafa on a well-struck line drive down the left field line to send his team and the St. Joseph’s faithful into a frenzy.
“I said to him right before he got up ‘this is what makes the season, this one hit’ and he went up there and got it!” said fifth year Head Coach Rick Garrett.
Reliever Anthony Caminiti, who came on in the bottom of the ninth inning to induce an inning-ending double play, fired a scoreless 11th inning to put the finishing touches on the 6-5 victory for the Golden Eagles.
“He just comes in and does what he has to do,” said Garrett in regards to Caminiti who has been lights-out, with a 2.66 ERA this season in 23.2 IP. He pitched in both games today and truly showed his mettle dealing with not only a dangerous lineup in a high-leverage spot but also the rain in the later innings creating a slick baseball.
The game was entertaining from the get-go.
The Golden Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Matthew Burnett to score Anthony Raucci, who hit a one-out double down the left field line. That was just the beginning of this marathon ballgame.
USMMA answered right back with two runs off St. Joseph’s LHP P.J. Martino on a fielder’s choice that scored Alex Mesaros and also a sacrifice fly by SS Jesse Reinebold who has himself quite a weekend.
In the top of the third, Paul Britt continued to rake by taking a hanging curveball and crushing it over the high wall in left field to tie the game at 2-2. Britt, had six hits on the weekend including multiple extra-base hits and two intentional walks in this game once they realized he was capable of doing damage on any pitch. They took a 3-2 lead on a sacrifice fly by Matt Burnett to score Dylan Piscitelli.
Once again, USMMA answered right back with a run in the third inning on an RBI single by catcher Jack McCann to tie it up at 3-3.
Britt led off the fifth inning with a single to left and came around to score on Anthony Raucci‘s double down the right field line, which was misplayed by the right fielder and allowed Raucci to scamper to third. They added to their lead in the top of the sixth when Lou Doria crushed an RBI double to the deepest part of the park in center field to score Dan Campanelli, who led off with a single to left.
Surely the game was over, right? One team can only rally so much? Wrong, the craziness was just beginning.
The pesky Reinebold led off the seventh inning with another single. Michael Barnes followed with a single to advance him to second and Bryson Campbell looped a single over shortstop to score Reinebold and cut the deficit to 5-4.
Nick Mannarino came on in relief of Martino and he did a terrific job escaping a 1st & 2nd no out jam unscathed.
In the eighth inning, there was a crucial play that allowed the game to go into extra innings. After Vincenzo Alteri led off with a single, a popped up bunt was the first out and a flyout was the second out, but Alteri stole second to get into scoring position. Jacob Sethong, who wrecked havoc all weekend slapped a line drive towards third base but it snuck past the glove of Tyler Sanderson an into left field to allow Alteri to early scamper home with the tying run.
St. Joseph’s went quietly in the ninth inning and Mannarino went back out for the ninth. He allowed two runners on base with one out and Coach Garrett made the move to his most trusted reliever, Anthony Caminiti. With the USMMA crowd eagerly anticipating a walk-off, Caminiti induced a chopper to third. Sanderson, a former League MVP at Hauppauge high school, made a terrific backhand short hop play, stepped on the bag and fired across his body to first base to complete the double play and end the inning.
As exciting as that was for the Golden Eagles, it didn’t prevent them from going down 1-2-3 in the 10th inning. Fortunately for them, Caminiti was able to do the same in the home half of the 10th inning.
In the 11th with a steady rain falling and a delirious crowd that had been sitting since 10:45 am, the Golden Eagles had one more rally in them. Tyler Crafa, easily their fastest base runner hit one to Reinebold at shortstop, who backhanded and fired a strong throw across the infield. With any other batter, it probably would’ve been an out but the speedy Crafa, who was an All-Region player last season beat it out by half a step.
After Tyler Costa hit into a fielder’s choice, he stole second base to get himself into scoring position. Montoro, a Wantagh grad who is no stranger to the big moment, came up clutch to put the No. 2 seeded St. Joseph’ Golden Eagles back in the lead for good.
“I’m just so proud of them–they are a great group of men and they have been waiting all year for this day,” he added.
Paul Britt who had 6 hits in the tournament including a HR today on the emotions of winning pic.twitter.com/Z7fhzz7vfc
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 6, 2018
The Golden Eagles almost were able to pull off a miracle earlier in the day. In the first game, they faced USMMA ace Andrew Spinnenweber who was absolutely lights-out for 8 innings. He was working on a two-hit shutout but ran into trouble in the ninth inning with a 5-1 lead and his team out-hitting the Golden Eagles 12-2. They mounted a little rally, partially aided by his error on a bunt back to the mound that he threw away allowing a run to score. With the score 5-2 and runners on 2nd & 3rd, Tyler Costa hit a parachute down the left field line between the left fielder, shortstop and third baseman that fell and scored both runs. It put the tying run in scoring position, after they appeared dead and buried just moments before. It was not to be, however, as Spinnenweber fanned Michael Ferrufino for his 12th strikeout of the day on his 138th pitch.
The victory allowed for 11 more innings of exciting, drama-filled baseball.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles advance to the NCAA Regional, they will wait until selection Sunday to find out which region they will be place in and who they will face. Two seasons ago, they defeated Johns Hopkins but were eliminated by TCNJ.
This year they hope for better results. For now, they will enjoy the victory as it is no easy task to win this conference, especially this season in which newcomers USMMA and Mount St. Mary’s added more competitiveness to an already talented conference.
