By Nicholas Cipolla
Chris Batuyios strikes out 3 batters to end the game. Mount Sinai wins the Conference V Long Island Championship pic.twitter.com/ZmZmwIGRbW
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2021
In a game that will be talked about for years to come, Mount Sinai achieved the goal every team on Long Island tries to do at the beginning of the year. And that goal was to win the Long Island Championship
In a game full of clutch hitting, spectacular defensive plays, and a little bit of controversy, Mount Sinai outlasted Island Trees winning by a score of 8-6.
The game started off like most games do. Max Reichenbach worked around a hit batter to keep Island Trees off the board in the top half of the inning. Robby Stephens did his part by retiring the first three batters he faced in the bottom half of the inning.
The very next inning saw Island Trees put a couple of runners on with two outs, and after a perfectly executed double steal, Nick Drew hit a grounder up the middle to score the first run of the game. The runner from second was trying to make it a 2-0 game but center fielder Joe Valenti threw a bullet to the plate to prevent the run from scoring and getting Sinai out of further trouble.
Stephens went back out in the second inning and once again kept the Sinai bats quiet, keeping it at a 1-0 affair through two innings.
In the top of the third inning was when Max Reichenbach found his control after hitting three batters in the early stage of the game and once again kept Island Trees off the board.
In the bottom half of the inning, Sinai was finally able to figure out Stephens. LJ Bohne stepped to the plate with runners on first and second. That was when Stepehns decided to throw over to second and appeared to have picked off 8th grader Benny Franquiz. However, Franquiz was awarded third base via an obstruction call on the Island Trees shortstop.
A few Pitches later Bohne hit an RBI groundout to tie the game at one run each, scoring Franquiz from third. Two betters later, University of Miami commit JT Caruso gave Sinai it’s first lead of the game with an RBI single to left field. The next batter, Matt Galli, hit a double to make it second and third with two outs. Will Rodgers hit a single to center field to bring home Galli and Caruso to give Sinai a 4-1 lead. This also provided Max Reichenbach some insurance runs and took a little bit of pressure off of him.
In the top of the fourth inning, Robby Stephens was able to get one of those runs back on an RBI groundout to the shortstop. However, a baserunning mistake by the runner on second allowed Sinai to escape the inning on an unorthodox 6-3-5 double play.
In the bottom of the 4th, Benny Franquiz reached base once again and was, once again, knocked in by LJ Bohne, this time on a RBI single just out of reach of the second baseman. Jonathan Uzzo came on in relief and was able to get out of the inning without allowing Bohne to score.
Island Trees looked to be on the ropes before they came to bat in the bottom of the fourth, but they weren’t out of the fight just yet. Following another hit batter, a 9 pitch walk to Nick Drew, and a hit, Island Trees had the bases loaded with one out, that’s when sophomore Chris Batuyios took over for Reichenbach and faced the tough challenge of getting out of the jam with no runs crossing the plate.
Central Connecticut-commit Antonio Ducatelli put together a great at bat and he ended up hitting a bullet up the middle to make it a 5-3 affair.
Sinai once again got an out on a baserunning blunder when they had two runners standing at third base. The very next batter, Jonathan Uzzo hit an RBI groundout to first to make it a one run game. A few pitches later, Ducatelli made a great play on the basepaths, scoring on a pass ball to tie the game at 5. Batuyios settled down and was able to get out of the inning, keeping the game tied at 5.
The very next inning, sophomore catcher Derek Menechino stepped to the plate with a runner on second with one out. That’s when he became the hero Sinai needed with one out in the fifth inning. He crushed a go-ahead RBI double over the left fielder’s head to give Sinai the lead to make it 6-5. A few batters later, another controversy presented itself.
After a triple from Matt Carrera, JT Caruso brings him home with an rbi single. Sinai pushes the lead back to two runs. 8-6 in the bottom of the 6th pic.twitter.com/jleV1J3b4b
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2021
Joe Valenti came to the plate with runners on second and third and one out. He hit a fly ball down the right field line, the Right Fielder for Island Trees made an incredible diving catch for the second out of the inning, both runners tagged up and the score was now 7-5 Sinai. Island Trees appealed to both second and third base, the umpires did rule that the runner on third left on time, but the runner from second left too early. There was then a 30 minute delay where the umpires and rules officials were looking over the rules as Island Trees asked if the run would still be counted or not. After speaking with a New York State Baseball rules interpreter via cellphone, it was ruled that the run would in fact still count.
In the top of the sixth, Island Trees threatened again as they had a second and third with two outs, Junior Connor Waiting was up to the challenge presented to him and hit an RBI single to make it a 7-6 game. Up next was Antonio Ducatelli with runners on first and third and two outs. Chris Batuyios made the decision to not pitch to Ducatelli right away, he would try to pick the runner off at third and he appeared to have the runner picked off. However, the ball was dropped by the third baseman. The runner from first took off for second when he saw the ball was dropped, the third baseman was running towards second base to try and get that runner out, the runner from third then took off and was ultimately thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
After a triple from Matt Carrera, JT Caruso brings him home with an rbi single. Sinai pushes the lead back to two runs. 8-6 in the bottom of the 6th pic.twitter.com/jleV1J3b4b
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 20, 2021
In the bottom of the sixth, junior Matt Carrera crushed a ball to the deepest part of the park and was able to leg out a triple, the next batter, JT Caruso, knocked in Carrera with an RBI single to make it a 8-6 game. That is all the run support Chris Batuyios needed to seal the deal in the seventh inning.
Despite allowing the tying run to reach second, the sophomore phenom struck out three batters in the inning to give Mount Sinai the win in a game full of excitement and controversy. A team that looked like they were on the come-up and ready to dominate in 2022 arrived a year ahead of schedule.
