What a wild day of baseball it was. Walk-offs, game-tying grand slams, lights-out relief performances and yes, even some fan ejections. Yesterday had it all. Here’s a breakdown of the double header between Mepham and Calhoun.
Mepham had taken Game 1 on Saturday and they did not play on Sunday due to prom so it was a 10:30am start yesterday. Mepham had ace Tyler O’Neill on the hill and Calhoun was without their stud SS, Patrick Sanchez, who was ejected on Saturday and had to serve a one-game suspension. It was one of those games where Mepham felt like they were going to run away with it – but just didn’t get the big hit.
In the second inning, Mepham opened up a 4-1 lead and had the bases loaded with one out. Calhoun coach Art Canestro made the call to take out starting pitcher Owen Rose and replace him with senior Thomas Walsh. It was a crucial moment in the game – a base hit would certainly break it open. Walsh wound up stepping up and striking out the next two batters to keep the game close. Calhoun got one back but stranded runners on 2nd & 3rd in the third inning. In the fifth inning, Brooks Montalbano hit a bloop single to score a run and make it 4-3, but again O’Neill made a big pitch and stranded the bases loaded. Meanwhile, Walsh was still chucking. He was lights-out, allowing just one run in relief and it came in the sixth inning. Billy Kender walked and came around on an E4 on what should’ve been an inning-ending double play. Walsh wound up striking out the next batter for his 10th K.
O’Neill went back out for the seventh inning and immediately ran into trouble on a single by sophomore Jordan Babbo. He struck out Peter Rogers for the first out but allowed a single to left by Timmy Mack. After a fly out to center for the second out, a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Next batter, Matt Kalfas hit a grounder up the middle that the second baseman ranged to his right and fired wide to the first baseman and allowed both runners to score to tie the game at 5-5.
Electric factory
Calhoun has tied it in the seventh with two outs pic.twitter.com/zxvUkN7GuB
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 14, 2021
The fans were going absolutely bananas. O’Neill wound up getting the final out but the damage was done. Walsh went back out for the bottom of the inning and worked around two hits by Trey O’Neill and Leo Asta to fire another zero.
In the top of the eighth, Brian Chin led off with a double to left. A grounder to short advanced him to third. The ensuing batter hit a routine fly ball to left field that would’ve made for a close play at the plate on the tag up, but instead the ball was dropped to give Calhoun the 6-5 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Tyler O’Neill hit a one-out single but Walsh was able to bear down and strike out the last batter for his 12th strikeout of the game to close the door and force a do-or-die Game 3. But first, they had to hop on the bus and head there.
Back to Calhoun !
Thomas Walsh strikes out 12 in relief as Calhoun staves off elimination to win 6-5 in extra innings over Mepham
Game 3 will begin in an hour. First the teams will have to hop on the bus and head to Calhoun. The Colts will have Patrick Sanchez available pic.twitter.com/8a4kgkYywA
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 14, 2021
Game 3 started at 3pm and the pitching match up was Brian Chin (Calhoun) and Aidan Amato (Mepham). In the top of the first, Chin worked around a leadoff single by Amato – thanks to a caught stealing – to throw a scoreless first.
In the bottom of the first, Amato ran into immediate trouble when Ryan Todd led off with a single, he walked Patrick Sanchez and Peter Rogers singled to left. A sac fly by Timmy Mack brought home the game’s first run. An E5 off the bat of Jordan Babbo brought in another run to make it 2-0 and a walk of Brooks Montalbano brought coach Eric Passman out to make a pitching change – bringing in lefty Mike Cucinella.
An E4 brought in two runs to make it 4-0 before Cucinella ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.
In the second inning, Peter Rogers crushed a solo shot to LF to make it 5-0 and at that point it looked like it may be a blowout. One person in the stands asked a player what the mercy-rule was. The fan section was absolutely packed in a way that you rarely see for high school baseball. The Calhoun fans were ready to celebrate.
But not so fast.
In the third, the Pirates got on the board on an RBI single to left by Aidan Amato. The next batter, Billy Kender walked to loaded the bases for Tyler O’Neill who bounced into an inning-ending double play. But the Pirates still had a pulse.
In the fourth, the Colts threatened for more. Peter Rogers ripped his third hit of the game and moved to second on a single by Jordan Babbo, but Rogers was caught stealing and Montalbano fanned to end the inning.
The game completely flipped in the fifth inning. After the leadoff batter grounded out to shortstop and tripped over the base, it almost seemed like the next eight outs were inevitable. But that wasn’t the case – Jack Davila drew a walk and Mike Cucinella singled to left. That prompted a pitching change. Peter Rogers came on in relief to face Aidan Amato. He struck him out for the second out of the inning but a wild pitch during the at bat advanced both runners into scoring position. With a base open, Calhoun called for an intentional walk of the dangerous Billy Kender once again. This time with the bases loaded, Tyler O’Neill made them pay with a no-doubt, 2-out grand slam to tie the game and send his team into a frenzy. It was a new ballgame.
TYLER O’NEILL WITH A 2-STRIKE GAME-TYING GRAND SLAM IN THE FIFTH pic.twitter.com/zkj9uRMu52
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 14, 2021
Rogers wound up getting the next batter, Thomas Coyne, to fly out to left to end the inning.
Mepham’s reliever, Leo Asta, fired a 1-2-3 sixth inning including catching a screaming liner back to the mound to end the inning. Mepham had the momentum during that frame of time and it seemed they would take the lead when Asta hit a one-out double to left field but a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning with no damage.
In the home half of the sixth, Ryan Todd smoked one to second that wasn’t handled by the second baseman for a leadoff runner. Sanchez dropped down the surprise sac bunt to get him into scoring position but that allowed for an intentional walk of the red-hot Peter Rogers. Timmy Mack struck out for the second out of the inning, but that set the stage for Jordan Babbo to come through with the huge two-run, two-out, go-ahead double off the fence in center to give them the 7-5 lead. Brooks Montalbano followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 8-5.
That was enough to finally put the nail in the coffin. Rogers went back out and worked around a two-out single by Kender to shut the door on the victory to advance Calhoun to the Nassau Conference II Finals against the winner of Garden City-MacArthur.
CALHOUN IS HEADING TO THE NASSAU CONFERENCE II FINALS pic.twitter.com/Ezs8uDbiDv
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 14, 2021
Editor’s Note: Garden City won 4-3 over MacArthur on a walk-off hit by pitch of Joe Frandina in the bottom of the 10th. Freshman Gabe Beschloss earned the win with four shutout innings of relief. Their best of three series will begin on Wednesday.
Other Games of Note: Plainview JFK won 3-2 over Syosset on a walk-off double by Gavin Weinstock to score Sebastian Lippman. The Hawks will face No. 1 Massapequa in the Nassau Conference I Finals on Wedneday.
Babylon defeated Center Moriches, 3-1, in a Conference V play-in game behind a complete game gem by John Valinoti. Cristino Tufano hit a HR.
Hills West defeated Westhampton Beach, 1-0, in a Conference IV play-in game behind a complete game gem by Brian Bentz. The lone-run came on an error that scored Justin LeGuernic.
Cold Spring Harbor defeated Wheatley, 3-2, in nine innings. The go-ahead runs came on a two-run blast by junior Drew Munn. They will face the winner of Wheatley-Oyster Bay in the Nassau Class B Finals.
