Final: Calhoun 7, Garden City 1
WP: Matt Kalfas (CG, 4 hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks)Timmy Mack 2 R double
Patrick Sanchez: HR
Babbo, Koch, Cohen and Todd all with RBI hits.
Calhoun improves to 11-1 on the season. pic.twitter.com/P7Uke6njHO— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2021
On the day following the passing of legendary head coach Joe Corea, it’s only right that the Calhoun Colts bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 7-1 win over Garden City. A complete game from sophomore southpaw Matt Kalfas and two runs in the first inning was the winning ingredient. They are now 11-1 on the season and remain in first place in Nassau Conference II.
Kalfas took the mound against a tough Garden City lineup that grinded their way to a 3-0 victory over Calhoun on Monday – which was the Colts’ first loss of the season. They immediately resembled that lineup in the first inning as Joey Wood blood a one-out single to center and Joe Infante moved him to second with a seeing-eye single of his own. A wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position and Wood scored on a sac fly to center by Pat Heber. At that moment, it appeared that the Trojans had brought their ‘A’ game and the Colts would have to claw this one out.
Patrick Sanchez ties it up with his second home run of the season. He’s been a monster all season – batting around .600 pic.twitter.com/5ebI6RhKWG
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2021
In the bottom of the first, though, the bats of Calhoun responded right back against Garden City RHP Aidan Magnotta. After Ryan Todd flew out to start the inning, College of Charleston-commit Patrick Sanchez absolutely crushed a HR to left center field – continuing his torrid start to the season. After a double by Timmy Mack, sophomore Jordan Babbo laced an RBI single to left to make it 2-0 in favor of Calhoun.
Kalfas settled in after that and he was in control. He worked around a pair of walks in the second inning and from that point on, he fired shutout baseball – keeping the Trojans off the board while his offense provided some insurance runs.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Colts broke it open – all with two outs nonetheless. A walk issued to Kalfas got things going – and then RBI hits by Ben Koch, Zach Cohen and Ryan Todd followed. Patrick Sanchez was walked, but the inning finally came to a close on a fly out to left by Peter Rogers.
Kalfas worked around a two-out double by Joe Wood in the fifth by coaxing a ground out to second to end the inning.
Matt Mohen came on in relief in the sixth inning for the Trojans and he struggled. Cohen led off with a single, Todd drew a walk, as did Peter Rogers. Timmy Mack broke the game open with a two-run single to make it 7-1 and Jordan Babbo followed with a walk. That was it for Mohen, but the damage was done.
In the top of the seventh, Kalas issued a two-out walk but recorded a strikeout on a nice breaking ball to end the game.
With the win, Calhoun remains in the top-spot of the conference. A loss would’ve muddied the water a bit, but now they are three games up with four to go. The top two seeds get a first-round bye anyway, so they are in great shape.
Coach Art Canestro noted that the offense had a “little hiccup” on Monday against Frank Santeramo, but he wasn’t worried about them bouncing back – which they did in a big way. They will face New Hyde Park on Thursday and Friday before closing out their regular season against East Meadow on the 7th and 8th.
