The Diamond Spikes manger discussing on how he felt his team played today. pic.twitter.com/HKooDAxOGI
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2020
by Salvatore D’Onofrio
Yesterday’s powerhouse matchup between Long Island Baseball (Costello) and Diamond Spikes did not disappoint. It was both teams’ second game of the Brian Moore Memorial Tournament honoring the late Long Island native Brian Moore who was a decorated NYPD officer killed during action.
Coming into Friday, it was a must win for both teams. Long Island Baseball lost a tough game to the Oil City Bandits, 11-2, on Thursday and Diamond Spikes tied with Dodger Nation on Thursday afternoon.
On the mound for the Diamond Spikes was right hander Ryan Heidrich. For Long Island Baseball, Joe McGuire took the hill. After a lead-off walk and stolen-base by Nick Morelle, Hedirich was able two strike-out the next three hitters in the inning. For the Diamond Spikes, Ryan Farrell hit a one out double but McGuire was also able to get out of the jam allowing no runs.
The second inning is where the game took a spin. After a scoreless top 2nd, Diamond Spikes led off the inning with a base knock from John Dossie. A throwing error by Long Island Baseball on a double play ball caused them to have a runner on second with no one out. Following the error, a bunt single by Troy Emmanuel and walk by Cole Umano led the bases for the Diamond Spikes. As the runner on third was taking a huge lead, McGuire tried to step off but ended up balking home a run. First-baseman Justin Consi followed up the balk by hitting an RBI single to stretch the lead to 2-0. Another error by Long Island Baseball and walk of Ryan Farrell allowed to Spikes to take a 4-0 lead after two innings
This is all the pitching staff for the Diamond Spikes needed.
Ryan Heidrich finished his three innings on the mound with 5 strikeouts and no runs earned. Heidrich was throwing hard and he was very consistent, challenging hitters and pounding the zone with strikes.
After Heidrich day was over, the southpaw Jake Strow came in for the Diamond Spikes picking up right where Heidrich left off.
In the 4th, Long Island Baseball got their first runner on by dropping a third strike but a nice double play by the second baseman Sean Seligman got the Diamond Spikes out of the threat.
Joe McGuire got taken out in the 5th inning for right hander Tom Callahan. Callahan was very impressive in the two innings that he pitched. Callahan struck out the first two batters he saw in the 5th. After a two-out single by Ryan Farrell, Callahan managed to get out of the inning without any damage.
Long Island Baseball just did not have an answer for Strow. He struck out the side in the 6th after a leadoff walk.
In the last inning for Long Island Baseball, Alex Kalistic hit a one-out double to keep the Long Island Baseball hopes alive. But, Strow struck out the next batter and got a struck out to finish his day.
Strow finished his day pitching with 6 strikeouts, 1 walk and no runs allowed. Jake Strow and Ryan Heidrich stayed to the game plan of throwing strikes, pounding the zone and giving their fielders a chance.
The final score of the game was Diamond Spikes 4 and Long Island Baseball 0.
Next up for the Diamond Spikes will be the Oil City Bandits at 9:00am on Saturday. For Long Island Baseball, they will look to bounce back against Dodger Nation in the annual Brian Moore Memorial Tournament.
