Sac fly by Dante Morabito – Pat Med has completely broken the game open in the fifth pic.twitter.com/ZZ2mjlDHHr
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 15, 2021
As far as no-hit bids go, this one didn’t exactly feel like the usual ones go. Especially in a playoff game between heated league rivals. Partially due to the score and partially due to the traffic on the bases.
In any event, Patchogue-Medford sophomore ace Josh Knoth took a no-hitter into the seventh and was one out away from completing the job but a two-out dropped popup prolonged the inning and the next batter, Mikey Mortilla, hit a single up the middle that he beat the throw to first for a clean hit. Knoth was taken out by coach Anthony Frascogna in favor of Tristan Verni, who allowed an RBI single to to the following batter, Maine-commit Jack Friend, but slammed the door on the next batter to secure the 11-2 win over Ward Melville.
Knoth struck out 10 batters in the games, hitting five and walking one. He set the tone early by striking out the side in the bottom of the first to quiet a raucous Ward Melville bench. He was able to calm the nerves that were lingering all day.
“I was pretty nervous for the game when the school day started coming towards the end but I was also excited because it’s my first varsity playoff game,” said the College of Charleston-commit. “I just tried to stay focused on school and do my assignments that got my mind off of it. I don’t think I was overlooked but it is my first varsity season and nobody really knew how it would be,” he said.
Ward Melville starting pitcher Greg Vivenzio came out firing, striking out two Pat-Med batters in the top of the first before running into trouble in the second.
After striking out his counterpart, he allowed a one-out triple to Matt Schlanger who came around to score on an RBI single by Jack Costello to make it 1-0. He avoided further damage in the inning, but with the way Knoth was throwing, they wouldn’t need much to support him.
Knoth worked around a leadoff HBP in the second to throw a scoreless inning with another strikeout to get his offense back in the dugout.
In the third, Pat-Med’s plate discipline and some command issues from Vivenzio allowed the Raiders to open it up. A one-out walk issued to freshman Rob Melo – first first of 4 walks on the day – and a single by Tyree Jackson put a runner in scoring position. Vivenzio then walked Dante Morabito to load the bases, Knoth to bring in a run, Matt Schlanger to bring in another run and that was it for him. Lou Petrucci called on sophomore southpaw Charles West with the bases loaded but he walked Jack Costello to bring in another run. He struck out Zach Rovner and induced a flyout to center to end the inning – but the damage was done.
In the bottom of the third, Ward Melville got on the board on a leadoff error by the third baseman to put a runner in scoring position, a HBP of Rob Looney and a RBI ground out off the bat of Mikey Mortilla to bring in Looney. Knoth escaped further damage on a comebacker off the bat of Jack Friend.
The Patriots could have made it closer in the fourth when Knoth hit two batters and walked another to load the bases but he induced a ground out off the bat of Rob Looney to third to strand the bases loaded.
In the fifth, the Raiders completely broke the game open – the knockout punch came on a two-run single by Matt Schlanger to make it 10-1 and Jack Costello followed with another RBI single to make it 11-1.
The only drama would be if Knoth could finish the no-hitter. People began talking about it during the bottom of the sixth – many were surprised he hadn’t allowed a hit considering Ward Melville had gotten on the board and had some base runners but it was, in fact, a no-hitter he was working with.
He struck out the first two batters of the seventh before a pop up down the right field line blooped in for an error. There was some confusion because the ball landed in foul territory, but it was touched in fair territory. That muddied the waters a little, but Mortilla made it a moot point with a clean infield single to break it up.
Regardless, Pat-Med won with a convincing 11-2 victory. They also defeated Ward Melville 17-4 recently. They will now face No. 1 Sachem East and their ace Rafe Schlesinger. As far as difficult tasks go, that’s about as tough as it gets – but Pat-Med is battle-tested and all they did defeat Sachem East earlier this season – albeit with Knoth on the mound and at home.
Knoth said, ” Absolutely I think we could beat Sachem East. Both games during the regular season we were very close and went into extras so you never know what can happen, hopefully we can keep our season going.”
