Go-ahead 3-R HR by Joey Marchese puts Shoreham-Wading River up 5-3 in the top of the fourth pic.twitter.com/kyV05kSkBA
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2021
Hits from the bottom of the lineup and lead changes are two signs of a competitive, compelling game of varsity baseball. When you combine the two, it’s even more thrilling. With one swing of the bat, Shoreham-Wading River’s eight-hole hitter, Joey Marchese, gave the Wildcats the 5-3 lead over Mount Sinai. They wound up tacking on two more, and holding on to defeat the Mustangs on the road by the score of 7-5.
Marchese stated that he “was standing in the box and looking for a fastball to hit hard – got my pitch and took a good swing and got it out,” said the 6’4 slugger. With the victory SWR improves to 3-0 on the season.
The Wildcats got on the board in the top of first on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Danny Kockenmeister to score Joey Dwyer – who hit a one-out single to left field and moved to second on a HBP of Billy Steele and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Mount Sinai RHP Dan Kellachan escaped further damage on a ground out to third base.
Hofstra-commit Jake Halloran got the start for the Wildcats. He walked back-to-back batters with one out in the first inning but used a 6-4-3 DP ball to escape the inning.
In the bottom of the second, though, Halloran ran into trouble. After retiring the first batter, he walked Will Rodgers and yielded a ground-rule double off the bat of Matt Galli. He struck out Matt Fauvell for the second out but he allowed an RBI single to nine-hole hitter Derek Mennechino. A walk to Joe Valenti prolonged the inning and LJ Bohne ripped a two-run single to make it 3-1 in favor of the Mustangs.
With the track record of success of SWR, I don’t think anyone thought that would be enough of a lead to put away the Wildcats and that was correct as they got one back right away on a long two-out solo HR to center by Billy Steele.
Halloran fired a zero in the third inning although he did allow a double to Will Rodgers who stole third. Matt Galli gave one a ride to left center but Christian Niski made a nice play just in front of the 337 sign.
The game flipped the script in the fourth inning when Danny Kockenmeister was hit with a pitch to start the inning, he stole second and advanced on a wild pitch. Jake Halloran drew a walk to bring up Marchese. He found the fastball he was looking for and attacked and deposited it over the left field fence to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead.
Mount Sinai did not go down without a fight. They got one back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Kyle Salvati who scored Joe Valenti. Matt Carrera was retired to end the inning stranding two runners.
In the top of the fifth, Mount Sinai went to the bullpen calling on George Washington-commit Max Reichenbach. Joey Dwyer led off with a single to left and moved to second on a ground out to first. Mount Sinai intentionally walked Liam Bowes for the second time of the game to bring up Kockenmeister who singled to left which resulted in the ball being misplayed allowing two runs to score and suddenly it was a 7-4 game.
JT Caruso led off the fifth inning with a single and after Matt Fauvell drew a walk to move him into scoring position, and RBI single by Mennechino cut the deficit to 7-5. Shoreham went to the bullpen to call on Ben Grodski who nearly ran into big trouble when Valenti ripped one down the line but it landed just foul and he struck him out on the next pitch to end the inning.
Kyle Salvati struck out three in the sixth inning in relief of Reichenbach but he left the game after appearing to injure his arm in the seventh inning and Caruso came on in relief to throw a scoreless inning.
Grodski went back out for the seventh and slammed the door with a 1-2-3 inning. SWR will be back in action on Friday against Bayport-Blue Point where they will look to cool down the hot bat of Luke Schartner, who hit three home runs last Saturday.
