Final: Commack 5, Sachem East 3
WP: Craig Pihlkar
S: Jack Cascone pic.twitter.com/o2Q4uLSgXM— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 13, 2021
On a difficulty scale, it doesn’t get much tougher than winning a road game against a lefty flamethrower that’s a likely MLB Draft pick. But when it comes to being afraid or intimidated, that’s just simply not going to happen to Commack.
The Cougars pulled off a wildly-impressive 5-3 win against Sachem East with Miami-commit Rafe Schlesinger on the bump throwing gas. Commack, who captured the 2017 County Championship in a similarly difficult match up at West Islip, had their own ace on the mound. With 6’5 RHP UCONN-commit Craig Pihlkar, they can play with anyone. The big righty earned the win, throwing 6 IP, allowing six hits, three runs (two earned) while striking out six. He stated that he didn’t have his best stuff, so he relied more on his curveball and slider and it certainly kept the Arrows’ lineup at bay and gave his team a chance to come back.
Schlesinger by no means was off his game. Making his first start of the year, he carved through the lineup for the first three innings, allowing no base runners while striking out four. In fact, he gave his team the lead with an RBI double in the fourth in which he sliced the ball down the left field line which scored Evan Fisher – who hit a one-out single to center and stole second. Pihlkar escaped further damage by striking out the next batter.
Commack got their first hit by Johnny Catuosco on a single to center to leadoff the fourth inning. Schlesinger stranded him there after retiring the next three batters.
In the top of the fifth, Connor Schramm drew a one-out walk but the next two batters struck out to end the inning. At that point, Sachem East appeared to be in control with the 1-0 lead and their ace dealing.
Craig Pihlkar went 6 IP, struck out 6 and allowed 2 ER in an impressive 5-3 win over Sachem East. The Cougars stay undefeated pic.twitter.com/L8bPhI6uTh
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 13, 2021
The script of the game completely flipped in the sixth.
After Matt McGurk struck out to start the inning, Catuosco ripped his second single of the game. Playing aggressively knowing they needed to force the issue, he stole second and advanced to third when the ball scooted away. Now 90-feet away, he ran on contact when the next batter hit a routine grounder to short but the ball was booted, allowing Catuosco to score and send his team into a frenzy.
Now with the game tied, Connor Pedersen stepped up and drilled an opposite field, RBI double to right center to give the Cougars the 2-1 lead. After an intentional walk, an error brought home the third run of the inning. Commack was able to get some breathing room when Connor Schramm lined one back through the middle for an RBI single and Nick Goldberg did the same to make it 5-1. The next two batters also hit singles, but the final out of the inning was recorded on the bases at home.
In the bottom of the sixth, Sachem East put up a fight against Pihlkar. After an error on a comebacker to the mound, and a single by Fisher, Ty Margolis ripped a two-run single to make it a 5-3 game.
In the 7th, Jack Cascone came on in relief of Pihlkar and he did his job. He fired a 1-2-3 inning to slam the door on the win. The Cougars improved to 4-0 on the season. Not saying they will go undefeated, but if you can beat Rafe Schlesinger, I’m not sure there’s a pitcher that they can’t beat.
