If you missed baseball and live on Long Island, yesterday was highly-anticipated and much needed.
After the cancellation of the 2020 high school spring season, fans and players were yearning to get back onto the field. Monday was the official first day back, but Wednesday had a different feel. Town of Brookhaven did some heavy lifting, getting together 36 Suffolk County high school teams for a 5-day long tournament that had all the excitement and talent of a regular season.
First up, we covered Sachem East vs Newfield.
Let me be clear – if this was a playoff game leading up to the draft, there would’ve been 30 scouts and over 1,000 fans. Not often do you see two highly-regarded arms like Rafe Schlesinger and Dylan Johnson face off against each other. It was the perfect way to kick off the tournament and I’m glad both coaches did not shy away from using their aces to kick off the tournament even though it could mean they don’t pitch again the rest of the weekend.
There was representatives from several teams in attendance. There was also quite a bit of pride on the line as seniors realized this was a special circumstance where they can feel the thrill of representing their school once more, after originally being told that they couldn’t.
The coaches recognized their seniors during a pre-game ceremony which was a very nice gesture.
Once the game began, it was pretty clear that Sachem East came to play. After Dylan Johnson struck out Anthony Urbancik to start the game, Stony Brook-commit Ryan Micheli ripped a double into the left center gap. Next up, Don Wille bounced one through the middle to score Micheli and give the Arrows and early 1-0 lead. Zach Hafner followed him with a perfectly-placed single over the third baseman’s head. Wille then stole third and scored when the throw scampered past the third baseman to score the second run. Johnson struck out Nick Stelling for the second out but then James Saladino followed that up with an RBI double to right to score Hafner to extend the lead to 3-0. Johnson struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Schlesinger came out firing, striking out the first two batters before Mike Prisco reached on an error by the shortstop to prolong the inning. He ended the frame with a ground out to the second baseman.
Newfield got on the board in the bottom of the second inning on a dropped pop up by the second baseman to score Andrew Roman, who drew a one-out walk. T.J. Mousette followed with a single to right, but Roman was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Both starting pitchers only went three innings. Johnson struck out 9 and lit up the radar gun (hitting 92), but allowed four hits and two walks. His best work came in the third inning after he walked the first two batters, he struck out Micheli, Wille and Hafner in succession to end the threat and let out a primal yell.
In the top of the fourth inning, Kendall Kendrick came on in relief of Johnson, and he worked around three walks to end the inning on a deep fly to center off the bat of Richie Heyder.
Newfield got closer in the bottom of the fourth off Ian Young. Albany-commit Mike Prisco showed his skillset when he lined a single to center, stole second and scored on a wild pitch.
While the game was close at that point, Sachem East broke it completely open in the fifth. Kendrick struggled again with his command, walking five consecutive batters to make it 5-2 before getting relieved by Shane LaFrese. The southpaw struck out Saladino for the second out, but Jared Rago crushed a grand slam to center to send his team into a frenzo and open up a 9-2 lead.
That was essentially the moment the game was over, although Newfield did add another run in the bottom of the sixth when Mike Prisco walked and scored on a wild pitch.
My thoughts on the game was that it was exciting to see high school teams back in action, the energy was high, but the rust was inevitable. The dropped pop ups, overthrows on stolen base attempts and spotty fastball command was not typical for these two teams but I think the time off and the nerves had a little bit to do with it.
After this, I headed over to Medford Complex where Northport took on Connetquot and Huntington took on Commack.
I was bouncing back-and-forth between these two games.
Connetquot sent junior Sean Mileti to the mound. The low 3/4 delivery was eerily similar to last year’s breakout star Matt Goodis. He had his issues with command in the first inning but he wound up striking out three batters. Starting opposite of him was Liam Darrigo, who coach Lynch told me in the offseason would be a potential breakout star.
He was not wrong, Darrigo was outstanding in this game, wiggling out of trouble on multiple occasions against the reigning Suffolk Class AA Champs. This lineup was not the same as 2019 but it did have Alex Ungar, Matt Brown-Eiring and their next wave of stars.
Northport’s attack is spearheaded by Colin and Ryan Shashaty and they got them on the board in the third when Colin ripped an RBI single inside the third base line to score Ray Moreno. They added two more runs on hit by pitches with the bases loaded to make it 3-0. Connetquot got one on the board in the bottom of the third when leadoff hitter James Goff crushed an opposite field double to score Anthony Amato to make it 3-1.
Surprisingly, that was as close as they’d get. It was a little shocking to see the champs lose their first game but Northport proved what they were capable of this season.
On the opposite field, it was a rather exciting game between Commack and Huntington – who may not be league rivals but are in neighboring towns so some pride was on the line. Commack got out to an early 2-0 lead on an infield single with the bases loaded that was thrown away to allow another run to score. They extended their lead on an RBI single to left by Joe Pellegrino.
Commack 4, Huntington 2
Jack Reardon ended the game with an amazing diving play and converted into a double play pic.twitter.com/rqQMISrL6e
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 9, 2020
Commack was leading 4-2 in the 6th inning with one out and a man on second. A parachute was hit down the left field line and seemed headed for an RBI single. SS Jack Reardon had other plans, the New Haven-commit made an unbelievable diving play to rob a hit and convert it into a double play to end the game.
Today we will head back to Medford to watch Brock Murtha start against Half Hollow Hills West.
