by Gabe Zoda
It was a historical evening of baseball in the Hampton Collegiate Baseball League. The South Shore Clippers took on the Sag Harbor Whalers today at Bellport High School, home of the Clippers.
Both teams were coming off of losses in their previous games and both came into tonight’s game 1-1. The Whalers had things rolling on both sides and ended up taking the win 8-5 through 8 innings of baseball.
With that said, there was a lot of baseball and it was jam-packed with a ton of big moments and the action started quickly in the 1st. Anthony Martino started off struggling to find the zone as he walked the first 3 batters (Sean Springer, Myles Proctor, Garrett Scavelli).
Next up was Kieran Dowd who grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice that brought in Springer from 3rd to start the scoring from the Whalers in this game.
In the bottom half of the 1st, Tyler Cortland, starting pitcher for the Clippers, started off his day on the mound with a quick and easy 1-2-3 inning to keep the momentum going in favor of the Whalers.
And they carried this momentum into the 3rd inning when they added on another run. Garrett Scavelli, started things off by walking for his 2nd of 3 times, would walk in this contest. He would then put himself in scoring position after he stole second base.
Once Scavelli was in position, Dowd’s plan was to bring him in and he fought to make sure that happened. After fouling off 3 tough pitches, he finally got one to hit and scored Scavelli on a single to bring the score to 2-0.
Now down two runs, South Shore knew they had to get a couple back to keep them in this game and they would do just that in the bottom half of the 3rd.
TJ Werner (3-4 with two 2Bs) ripped a double to start this inning off. Aidan Larkin then put himself on first with a beautifully placed bunt. This would move Werner to third.
Draskin then walked to load the bases with one out in the inning which would bring up James Myler. He would reach first on a fielder’s choice and would also score Werner in the process. The Clippers would not stop there.
Their second run of the inning would be scored by Larkin when he, who was on 3rd, came in after an error by the catcher, Ryan Mullahey, from the Whalers.
They capped things off in the 3rd in a big way after Tim McHugh scorched a 2B down the line. This would bring in Myler and would put the Clippers ahead 3-2 after 3 innings of play.
That lead wouldn’t even last a full inning because the Whalers would explode in the top of the 4th and put up 5 runs.
The Clippers would go to AJ Verga (LHP) to start off the inning in hopes that he would shut the offense down but the Whalers only seemed to take advantage of the new arm on the mound.
Marika Lyszczyk would start this big inning with history. She became the first female to record a hit in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League with a single. She wasn’t done with breaking the barriers in this inning as she would come around and record the first run for a female as well.
She came in due to a big 2 RBI single by Scavelli. Along with Lyszczyk, Myles Proctor (who reached on a double of his own) came in as well. This would put the Whalers back on top but they weren’t done.
Mullahey would then get a big 2 RBI double a couple of batters later, this time bringing in Scavelli and Dowd.
Mullahey would score the final run of this half inning after an error by the first baseman that allowed Luke Napolitano to reach.
Now with a score of 7-3, the Clippers needed to find a way to respond and they would in the bottom half.
The Whalers put up 5 in the top of the 4th, behind 2 doubles. This one which scored lyszczyk. Which marked the first female to record a run in the league’s history. Score is now 7-3 in favor of the Whalers in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/spLv7PT8PT
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2021
They didn’t get all of the runs back but they were able to chip away at the lead. They were able to do so after a couple of doubles from Werner and Chad Pike. Werner would score on Pike’s hit and the lead was cut to 3 after 4 innings of play.
After all of the action in that 4th inning, things went quiet for 2 whole innings as Ryan Levenberg for the Clippers and Charlie Adamson both worked 2 scoreless innings but the action would pick back up in the 7th.
The Whalers would put in an Insurance run in this inning. This was accomplished by Anthony Panissidi, who would reach 1st due to a 6-4 fielder’s choice. That allowed Napolitano to score.
As the 3 hour mark of game time passed and the daylight on it’s way out at Bellport HS field, the Clippers would have one more shot to comeback in the bottom of the 8th. They were able to get the Bases loaded with one out.
This would bring up Michael Draskin in a big spot and he would deliver a run in the form of a sac fly to right field.
Alec Maag would end up striking out to end the game with the final score of 8-5 in favor of the Sag Harbor Clippers. The Clippers (1-2) look to get over .500 as they play the Ospreys in a double header while the Whalers (2-1) try and take both games of their Double header against the Tomcats.
