B1000 Seminoles outlasted Team Steel in both games of Thursday’s double header in the Boys of Summer/Perfect Game Collegiate League. Each game went six innings due to the time limit, but they both featured compelling action.
Here’s how it went down:
Game 1:
Team Steel jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first off Matt Levine. Jake Woods got things going with a single to right field and a stolen base to get himself into scoring position. After two strikeouts, Matt Schmidt reached on a dropped fly ball by the left fielder to score Woods and get on the board. After a walk and a balk put two more runners in scoring position, Nick Doczy reached on an error by the second baseman to allow the second run of the inning to score. Levine settle down and induced an inning ending pop out to first base to strand the bases loaded. That wound up being a crucial moment in the game as the Seminoles attempted to battle back.
It did not take long, in fact, as they immediately got their bats going.
Anthony Citarelli led off the top of the second inning with a single to left field. A walk to Joe Stewart got him in scoring position. Jackson Sattinger dropped down a sacrifice bunt and the throw got away from the first baseman to allow Citarelli to score. A bunt single by Timmy Cassese and a fly out to center field set the stage for Aristo Pagiatakis who atoned for his error in the previous inning with a two-run single to center field to give the Seminoles a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the third with B1000 leading 3-2, Team Steel threatened to score. A one-out walk to Chris Vivenzia followed by a single by Mike Cipoletti brought up Jordan Chin. He lined a single to center field, but Jackson Sattinger showed off his cannon in center with a perfect throw to nail Vivenzia at the plate to end the inning and keep the score 3-2.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth when Vivenzia led off the inning and got hit by the pitch. A one-out walk to Cipoletti brought up Christian Fils-Aime. The speedster ripped one into the right center field gap to score Vivenzia and tie the game at 3-3. They did strand two runners in scoring position to end the frame.
In the top of the sixth, B1000 went to work. They used a wild pitch to score Jack Santini, who led off with a walk. They added an insurance run on an RBI single by Citarelli to make it 5-3.
Credit to Team Steel, they did not go down without a fight. Aidan Hutchins was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and he moved to third on a double by Matt Schmidt. An infield single by Nick Doczy loaded the bases and Coach James Bailin called on hard-throwing RHP James Muscat. The Binghamton-commit walked in a run to make it 5-4, but he was able to bear down and strikeout Jordan Chin to end the ballgame.
Game 2
Aidan Hutchins took the mound for Team Steel against James Muscat, who threw only 10 pitches in the 6th inning of Game 1. This game was a bit of a slog in the first two innings – which took 1 hour to complete. Each teach posted a run in the first inning. Team Steel scored on an RBI single by Keegan Murray to score Jake Woods, while B1000 scored on an wild pitch that scored Vinny Pecora. Their rally started with two outs and nobody on, but Pecora’s speed paid off as he legged out an infield hit to keep the inning alive.
In the second inning, Jackson Sattinger came on in relief of Muscat. He worked around a leadoff walk to throw a scoreless inning. That allowed his offense a chance to take the lead – which is exactly what they did. After a leadoff walk drawn by Brendan Rose, Timmy Cassese followed with one as well. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position and brought up Ricky Russo. The Farmingdale State-commit dropped down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze. It didn’t just score Rose but also Cassese, who came sprinting around to make it 3-1.
The game stayed that way as B1000 brought in Mike Pokorny to relieve Sattinger in the fourth. He threw a scoreless inning of relief.
The Seminoles added an insurance run in the home half of the fourth when Russo struck again, this time on an RBI single to score Brendan Rose. That extended the lead to 4-1 and that’s how it would end. With the victory, they improved to 7-9-2 on the season while Team Steel dropped to 2-15-1.
On a side note, B1000 coach James Bailin mentioned how he had never won a game at PAL Stadium. That dates back to his senior season at Division HS when he lost in the Long Island Championship, 4-3, to Deer Park. He also lost there to Dowling when he was a senior at Adelphi and also in the regionals later that year. That string of losses continued into his coaching career, including earlier this summer in a double header I covered. It was a bizarre streak that lasted 23 years with no explanation. Thus is baseball.
