by Eric Belyea
Dalers captain Andrew Alameda takes the mound to start the game. pic.twitter.com/altTj1ajF4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2021
On a beautiful Tuesday night, Farmingdale played host to Oceanside in a non-conference match up. With one of the best pitchers on Long Island, Andrew Alameda, getting the start for the Dalers.
Over the course of the first four innings, Alameda only allowed one base runner on a walk to start the game. The Dalers took advantage of two consecutive Oceanside errors in the first inning, when Nick Napolitiano plated the first two runs of the game with a double. It was all Farmingdale early.
The offense did not stop piling on early in the game. The Dalers plated five more runs over the next two innings. Of those five runs, four of them were earned. Anthony Quatromani, Justin Molina, Michael Gardener, and Josh Behar all contributed on the early inning success.
Although the Farmingdale’s offense put on a show, the highlight of the night was Alameda. The right handed pitcher had all of his pitches working, and was consistently locating, “I was locating my fastball well, and I really had them on my slider. I was really confident in both pitches.” Over 6.1 innings of work, Alameda stuck out 11 Oceanside Sailors, and only issued two walks and giving up two hits as well. His fastball was on fire, and his slider and curveball were dancing across the strike zone. He is one of those pitchers that people stop what they’re doing to watch. Alameda looked extremely comfortable on the mound Wednesday night, consistently getting ahead in the count, and controlling his own game.
“My teammates make it a lot easier for me, I can trust all these guys. I know I just need to throw strikes” said the St. Thomas Aquinas commit. He really believes this team can win the Long Island Championship, “our goal is to go take what’s ours, the LIC”.
The Dalers tacked on one more run in the fourth inning, on a ground out by Behar, which was his second of the game. Everything seemed to be status quo during the middle third of the game. Alameda was cruising and the defense was clicking, holding the Sailors offense at bay. But the Oceanside bats came alive on Alameda. The fatigue of six innings of work began to catch up to the senior. He gave up back to back singles to lead off the inning, followed by a walk. After his 11th strike out of the night, Alameda sent a pitch screaming to the backstop, plating the inning’s second run, knocking the Dalers lead down to seven. Steve Licata eventually replaced Alameda, and the struggles for Farmingdale only worsened.
Licata walked the first batter he faced, then gave up an RBI single to Tyler Cinamon, making it a 9-4 game. After recording just one out on a sacrifice fly, junior Nick Napolitano entered a 9-4 game looking to shut the door. Juan Abreu smacked a Napolitano heater to right field to plate three Sailors, making it a 9-7 game. With their backs to the wall, they did not stop fighting. Napolitano did crush any thought of the ultimate comeback from happening, ending the game with a strike out. On a packed night at Farmingdale’s home field, the Dalers held on and kept the Sailors from swimming upstream and stealing a victory.
