What a thrilling day of baseball on Saturday it was for Day 2 of the Coaches Memorial Weekend hosted by the Town of Brookhaven.
I bounced around from field-to-field but was locked in on Sayville-Westhampton Beach at 2pm, Longwood,-William Floyd at 4, then Newfield-Smithtown West & East Islip-Hills West at 8pm. It was a sensory overload of baseball and during one stretch in the evening there was just screaming and pure jubilation from all four fields at Moriches Complex.
Just a few thoughts from the day:
Sayville defeated Westhampton Beach 7-0, with Felician-commit Jack Turner starting and getting the win for the Golden Flashes. He is their staff ace and looked every bit that part even against a really tough lineup which will score a lot of runs this year – led by Jack Halloran, Frankie Noto and Ryan Miller. He matched up against Miller, who ran into a lot of trouble in the second inning as Sayville scored six runs on RBI hits by Jack Cheshire, Michael Argenziano, CJ Messina, and Jack Quinlan. Many people assumed that because they graduated Brock Murtha last year, that Sayville simply wasn’t going to be a top team this year but that is simply false. Baseball is a team game and there was no way they would’ve won the Long Island Championship in 2019 if they had only one impact player. Plus, Turner appears to have assumed the role of staff ace that Murtha filled since his sophomore year. Sayville will be tough to beat once again.
The reigning Class A Long Island Champs send Felician-commit Jack Turner to the mound against Westhampton Beach pic.twitter.com/6AruFTGogi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2021
Additionally, they are going to be strong up the middle with Quinlan behind the plate, Buffardi and Argenziano as the double play duo and a speedy outfield of Mack Murtha, CJ Messina and Alex Millwater. It was an easy win for Sayville, but they will have plenty of challenges this year including today with East Islip.
Longwood defeated William Floyd, 10-0, behind another gem from Tommy Ventimiglia. As many of you know by now, Tommy is one of the premier pitchers on Long Island and we selected him as our Preseason Pitcher of the Year. He responded by throwing 5.1 shutout innings, allowing two hits (both to Justin Backhaus) and striking out 8. He did not have his famously good command, he walked two in the first inning – perhaps some opening day jitters with scouts behind home plate.
He got the only run he needed to lead off the first inning on an inside-the-park HR by Joe McDonald. You might be wondering how that happens at the varsity level but it’s actually not surprising considering Yaphank Complex has the dimensions of Yellowstone Stone as it’s 410 down the lines, 430 to the alleys and 450 to center since they share the field with football. It puts a lot of pressure on the outfielders to keep the balls in front of them but the best hitters will take advantage and scoot the ball through the gaps.
Floyd’s starter Austin Tracy settled in but Longwood broke the game open in the sixth inning. McDonald wound up going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Ventimiglia helped himself with three hits, two RBI and a run scored. Rocco Hall went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Preston Gerena went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
When Venti is on the mound, Longwood is close to impossible to beat.
Newfield defeated Smithtown West, 3-2, in a thrilling game that matched up St. John’s-commit Dylan Johnson and Tyler Lawrence. Johnson did not have his best stuff in the first inning as they did not strike out a batter which is unusual for him. He bounced back by striking out the side in the second inning showcasing his nasty array of pitches from his low 3/4 arm slot.
Newfield nearly got on the board in the second but Johnson was thrown out at the plate attempting to score after he led off the inning with a single. Smithtown West flipped the script by scoring two runs off him in the third inning – with the second run coming on an E5. Jack Flood started the rally off with a single to right and two straight walks loaded the bases for Adam Ginsberg. He grounded one to third and beat out the throw to avoid the double play, allowing Flood to cross the plate. Johnson should’ve gotten out of it on the next batter but an error by the third baseman allowed another run to score and continue the inning but Lawrence struck out to end the frame.
From that point on, both offenses went pretty dormant as it appeared that 2-0 lead may stand up. Lawrence was in a groove for the middle innings, but that changed in the home half of the sixth.
Big time performance from Dylan Johnson
Final: Newfield 3, Smithtown West 2
WP: Johnson (CG, 11 Ks)Evan Rodriguez go-ahead single in 6th pic.twitter.com/bQGX7abRvv
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2021
D’Allesandro led off the sixth for Newfield with a single to left and it certainly felt like the momentum was shifting back in their favor. The next batter, Mike Medina, reached on an error by the third baseman to put the tying run on base. Zach Cronk bunted back to the mound but Lawrence’s throw sailed over the third baseman’s head to allow a run to score. The next batter, Mike Hackal hit what should’ve been a sac fly to left but the runner failed to tag up – it looked like Smithtown West caught a massive break, but Evan Rodriguez stepped up and delivered a clutch two-run single to CF to score the tying and go-ahead runs. In the seventh, Johnson went back out with the lead and worked around a one-out walk and struck out the final batter which brought his total to 11 for the day and slammed the door on the win.
Clutch 2-R single by Evan Rodriguez and Newfield takes a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Smithtown West is going to the bullpen pic.twitter.com/fdED0kqaKQ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2021
East Islip topped Hills West, 9-0, in a game that will go down in the storied-history of East Islip baseball. Senior RHP and Adelphi-commit John Rizzo pitched an absolute masterpiece, striking out 20 of a possible 21 batters in a one-hit shutout. He needed just 87 pitches. The only hit came against opposing starter Ryan Muskopf in the sixth inning. Coach Sal Ciampi told me after the game that it’s a school-record and that it was the best pitch game one of his players have ever had.
Lights out for Adelphi-commit John Rizzo (East Islip) through 3 innings pic.twitter.com/osmjrAuNf2
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 9, 2021
Muskopf kept the game close, he exited with Hills West trailed 2-0 in the sixth and he struck out 11 but they broke the game open right away. East Islip is going to be one of the best teams in Suffolk this season, and our next power rankings will have to reflect that. Their offense is very underrated with players like Ryan Ferremi, Ryan Thompson and both Rizzo brothers. They will make some noise this year. Their next game is today at Sayville.
There were other great games from Saturday but these are the ones I saw personally.
