by Gabe Zoda
In the top of the 4th, the Breakers pour on the runs. 5 in the inning and 7 in the game as the Breakers extend their lead to 7-0. pic.twitter.com/5RJ7ylHgMK
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 15, 2021
To start off the 2021 season of the Hamptons League, the Riverhead Tomcats opened up at home. It was the Southampton Breakers, though, who were able to take home the W to jump start their season.
Jake Babuchak, the starting pitcher for the Tomcats set the tone on the mound, striking out two batters and getting a quick 1,2,3 inning.
Mike Volgende returned the favor and did the exact same thing in the bottom of the inning, striking out two and setting the side down in order.
It was in the top of the second that the Breakers would start to put some runs on the board. Babuchak was able to strike out Krause to start the inning but a string of offense led to two runs being scored by Southampton.
Ali started this string off by working a quality at bat into a walk. Then Stinson walked up to the plate with a job in mind to get this player over. Instead, he sent a rocket out to left center which ended up scoring Ali and landed him on 3rd base.
Right after Stinson did his job, Eitniear followed it up with a perfectly placed sac fly that would score Stinson easily.
It seems like that second inning was the opening of the flood gates because the Breakers were only just getting started.
The 3rd inning presented itself as the calm before the storm with neither team putting up a run.
But in the 4th, the Breakers would break through and post a 5-spot in the top half of the inning. This was done by the 6 through 9 batters of the lineup to all reach by a walk or a HBP.
Once the lineup flipped, the hits started coming in as Robinson drilled a double and Gale used his speed to land on first with an infield hit. Two runs would score in both of those at bats. That 5 run inning would inflate the lead to 7-0.
The Tomcats tried to battle back in the 4th. They had the bases loaded and were looking to punch back. This was when Breakers pitcher Volgende had to focus in and not allow the momentum to shift to the home team. He buckled down and delivered a 3 pitch strikeout and kept his shutout intact.
That would do it for him as he finished with 4 innings of work, 5Ks and 0 runs earned. But although he was done, the Breakers were not.
During this offensive explosion from Southampton, the Tomcats still were trying to get things going and in the bottom of the 5th, they managed to scratch across a run with a couple of singles from Bowrosen and Gisonda, then Feil reached with a HBP and Murrel grounded out but brought in the first run of the season for the Tomcats.
On the other hand, the Breakers had things working perfectly, They would get a pair or runs in the 6th and 7th. They did this by a HR by Ali in the 6th and followed by a couple walks and hits to bring in 3 more runs after the HR to increase the Breakers lead.
At the end of 7, the score was 11-1 and the Tomcats knew they needed to start something on offense if they even wanted a chance of coming back into this game. They weren’t going to go down without a fight and this was seen in the Bottom of the 8th where they were able to put up one more run to bring it to an 11-2 game.
That’s how the score would stay when it was all set and done at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton. Volgende would take the Win and Jake Babuchak would take the Loss. Breakers will look to build on this momentum and the Tomcats look to find their stride when they take the field for their respective next games.
