Final: Pat-Med 11, Sachem North 3
WP: Josh Knoth (5 IP, 3 R, 7 K)Brian Frascogna: 3 hits
Dante Morabito: 2 RBI double pic.twitter.com/GPTyDHqBrv— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 24, 2021
After a rocky start that included yielding back-to-back doubles followed by a two-run shot by Brandon O’Neill, Charlestown-commit Josh Knoth settled in and pitched effectively for the Pat-Med Raiders. The offense of the Raiders scored five runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-3 lead – and they would not look back as they held on to win, 11-3.
As they say, ‘if you’re gonna score, score early’ on the best pitchers. Once they settle in, they are usually extremely tough to beat. Sachem North jumped all over College of Charleston-commit Josh Knoth early and scored three runs on four hits before he was able to focus and escape the jam with a comebacker to the mound and two strikeouts to get his team back in the dugout. He blamed it on wildness, but the Sachem batters were rather aggressive attacking fastballs. O’Neill is certainly a player to keep an eye on for the future as the sophomore crushed the home run and is already a middle of the order bat. Catcher Steven Kienzle got Sachem North on the board with an RBI double, he’s their team leader and thumper in the lineup.
Sachem North LHP Chris Kelly got the start and immediately ran into trouble. He walked Patrick Dallas to leadoff the game and after an E6, he walked the next two batters to force in a run and make it 3-1. Morabito received the RBI and Tyree Jackson followed with a fielder’s choice to get another run on the board.
Knoth went back out and fired a 1-2-3 second inning with a strikeout and worked around a walk and an error in the third to throw another scoreless inning.
Kelly also threw a scoreless second and third inning and it appeared we might be headed for a low-scoring game, but that all changed in the home half of the fourth. Matt Schlanger led off with a leadoff walk, Peter Medena was hit by a pitch and Brian Frascogna bunted one past Kelly to load the bases with no outs. Kelly was taken out and the next batter drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game at three. Josh Knoth also drew a walk and that gave Pat-Med the lead. Dante Morabito turned on one and ripped it just inside the third base line to score two and make it a 6-3 lead and then swelled to 7-3 on an RBI single to left by Tyree Jackson.
Knoth had a lengthy break in between innings but it did not appear to impact him as he struck out two in fifth inning and induced a ground out to third to end the inning.
Pat-Med added four more runs in the fifth inning on a two-run double by Patrick Dallas, an RBI single by freshman Rob Melo and an RBI fielder’s choice.
Justin Moustouka came on in relief and fired two shutout innings to slam the door on the victory. Pat-Med improved to 6-3 with the win.
