Coach Rob Burger is going to the Suffolk AA Finals in his first year at the helm for Connetquot pic.twitter.com/0IhOa1ufp0
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 30, 2019
There are a lot of similarities between 2017 Commack and this year’s Connetquot team from the insane amount of talent right down to having a first-year Head Coach.
Just as those Cougars did two years ago, the T-Birds are headed to the Suffolk AA Finals, one year after losing in the Final 4 on their home field to Eastport-South Manor. This year’s team was not going to be denied. They defeated No. 7 Longwood, 2-0, in Game 3 of the semifinals.
Coach Burger was undecided about who to send to the mound following yesterday’s loss.
“We were in the office just sitting around for about 45 minutes and Matty Brown came over to us, knocked on the door and said ‘Coach I want the ball’, and when you have a kid like that on your team that’s a junior and asking for the ball on one of the biggest stages all year it just makes it a lot easier to hand him the ball,” he added.
Brown-Eiring did not disappoint. The Stony Brook-commit, making his first start of the season, was electric. He struck out 10 batters, allowing five hits and three walks in a complete game shutout over Longwood’s talented lineup.
The T-Birds jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. James Goff got things started with a single and moved to second on Brown-Eiring single off the pitcher. Josh McGee drove in Goff with an RBI single to shallow center field and they added another on Mike Barbara’s fielder’s choice.
Brown-Eiring wouldn’t need any runs on this day, but Longwood did threaten to score on a couple occasions.
In the third inning they got a leadoff single from Kyle Allen and a single from Kyle Rausch but Brown-Eiring fanned Matt Encizo to end the inning on a high fastball. In the fourth inning, a two-out double from Kyle Allen and consecutive walks to Brian Monahan and Giuseppe Vicidomini loaded the bases for Allen but Brown-Eiring induced an inning-ending popout to end the inning.
In the fifth inning a two-out single from Encizo sent up Jose Matos who got into one to left field but it was caught at the warning track to end the frame.
He also allowed a single in the sixth to Griffin Bell but retired the next two batters to end the sixth. He retired the side in order in the seventh inning to seal the deal and punch their ticket to the finals.
They will wait to see the results of tomorrow’s Game 3 between Ward Melville and West Islip to see who they will be playing on Saturday. If Ward Melville wins, the Patriots will host Games 1 and 3 but if West Islip wins then Connetquot will host Games 1 & 3.
