Final: Lindenhurst 12, North Babylon 4
WP: Jack KellySal Leto drove in 4 runs in the victory. He is the @BsbLifestyle101 Player of the Game. Lindenhurst will face No. 4 West Islip on Friday pic.twitter.com/4uUx60AL2Q
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2019
Lindenhurst was 2-8 and an after thought in League II just a few weeks ago and today they knocked off No. 5 North Babylon to stay alive and win their second straight elimination game in the Suffolk AA postseason with a 12-4 victory.
Jack Kelly fired 6+ innings and was backed by a huge offensive day led by Sal Leto who drove in two runs in the fourth inning and another two in the sixth inning for Lindenhurst that opened up a big lead.
“This team really has come together since the beginning of the season,” said Leto. “We started 2-8 and came all the way back, made the playoffs in the last game and we had a great team win today again. I couldn’t tell you one person that’s not hitting better now than in the beginning of the season,” he added.
They faced Queens College-commit Evan Christopher, who fired a nine-inning victory last week and pitched an inning of relief in Monday’s win, but he clearly showed a bit of fatigue this afternoon.
Lindenhurst got going early on an RBI single by Dom Sarnicola to drive in Vinny Sottile for the first run of the game. After a double by Justin Ventura and a two-run error by the right fielder, JC Canobbio brought in the fourth run of the inning on a fielder’s choice.
Jack Kelly worked around a leadoff base runner to throw a scoreless first inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Bulldogs put two runs on the board on an RBI single by Ross Tallarico and a ‘little league home run’ by Charles Sagona, which is a single and three-base error that allowed him to come all the way around to score.
The game appeared like it might be a close contest, but Lindenhurst broke it open with a two-run single in the fourth by Leto to make it 6-2 and a huge five-run sixth inning on a two-run single by Leto, a two-run HR by Justin Ventura and another RBI single by Sarnicola.
Kelly went out for the seventh inning, but was unable to record an out. North Babylon put up two runs to cut the deficit to 12-4, but that was all they could mount.
For North Babylon, it was terrific 17-win season, but a frustrating one knowing that they were 17-1 against teams not named West Islip. They finally ran out of steam on this afternoon.
Brian Primm had a monstrous season for them and one that should warrant strong consideration for All-Long Island, All-State and maybe even the coveted Yaz Award. He went 5-0 with 38.1 IP, only 17 hits allowed and 38 strikeouts. He allowed only one extra-base hit all season and compiled a 0.73 ERA with 0.70 WHIP. At the plate, he batted .431 with a .535 OBP, .621 SLG and 1.156 OPS with only three strikeouts.
For Lindenhurst, they will face West Islip on Friday. It is a tough match up without a doubt and one that goes beyond the diamond and revisits their fall match up in the Suffolk County Championship on the gridiron. There’s no doubt that it will be an intense game and a terrific battle. Lindenhurst will need to beat them twice to knock them out.
