by Gabe Zoda
We spoke with Chris Andrews after his 2-3, 1 RBI, 2R performance at the plate and his run saving DP on the field. pic.twitter.com/bGi7Qf8Gyh
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 25, 2021
The Hamptons League saw some under the lights action at Jean Cochran Park last night. After winning their first game of the season on the 23rd, the North Fork Ospreys looked to carry some of that momentum into tonight when they took on the Westhampton Aviators. The Aviators were looking to create some distance to stay above .500.
At the end of the day the Aviators would fall to the Ospreys by the score of 3-1.
This game was tightly-contested throughout with a lot of big moments that changed the course of the game.
The scoring took a couple of innings to get started as the First inning went very smoothly for both starting pitchers. For the Ospreys, Jake Fraher (WP) struggled out of the gate after giving up a BB to Jake Liberatore and a 1B to Kyle Olson. Fraher would find the zone right after that at bat as he struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Ospreys would also be able to get two players on base in the bottom of the first as Mason Kelly and Steven Luttazi both hit singles. Like the Aviators, North Fork was unable to convert those runners into runs as Douglas Goodwin (LP) was able to get out of the jam to keep the score knotted at 0-0 after 1. That score would not stay even for long.
In the second inning the Ospreys would start the scoring and it all started with Chris Andrews. He worked the count and got on base with a walk. The next two batters would get out but Andrews was able to get onto 3rd in the process. That brought up Cole Resetar with 2 outs and a big opportunity.
He wouldn’t waste this opportunity as he ripped one over the head of the left fielder which would score Andrews and make the score 1-0 in favor of North Fork and they wouldn’t look back.
They would tack on two more runs in the 4th and 5th innings as well which would bring the score to 3-0.
In the 4th, Andrews would start things off again with a single. This would be his first of 2 singles he hit in this game. He would also score his second run. An E1 from Goodwin moved Andrews to 3rd and Riley Davis would land on 1st because of this same error.
This brought up Kyle Papiot and he did his job and lifted one into right field, allowing Andrews to score on the sac fly from Papiot.
In the 5th, Andrews would be the key factor again. This time he drove in Mason Kelly (who reached with a single to start the inning). He would drive in this run with a single of his own and these runs would be all they would need.
The defending champs were not going to go out without a fight and showed this a couple times. One of these times was in the top of the 6th.
In this inning, Matt Alifano and Jake Liberatore would reach base by walking and getting hit by a pitch. These two runners would end up on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the inning. This would bring up Kyle Olson. This was their chance to get a couple runs across and cut the lead down.
The only problem with this is that the Ospreys had nothing but victory on their minds and who else but Chris Andrews to show everyone just that. Olson flew one out to Andrews (who was in Left field) in hopes of getting the Sac Fly. Andrews would then fire one to the plate and throw out Alifano at the plate to get the DP to end the inning and the Aviators momentum.
The 7th would present another one of these opportunities. This time Jamis DeKay would get a single and then move over to second to put himself in scoring position for Tim Feliz.
This time the Aviators would be able to score their first run on the backs of an absolute rocket single off the wall from Feliz. This would bring the score to 3-1.
The Ospreys knew they could smell the taste of victory and they weren’t going to allow the Aviators to get any more runs so they decided to go to relief pitcher Paxton Meyers.
Here is the final out of the game as the Ospreys take home their second win of the year over the Aviators.
WP Jake Fraher (5 1/3, 1H, 4KS) pic.twitter.com/3CzMk7lQGa— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 25, 2021
Meyers would shut the door in the 7th and continued to shut down the next two innings for the Ospreys to secure the save. He was able to do this due to his wicked curveball that he used on many occasions. He would strike out 4 batters in his 2 ⅔ innings utilizing this pitch.
The Ospreys look to use this momentum gained from their last two Ws to get another one against the Clippers on the 25th while the Aviators look to get back over .500 with a game vs the Breakers on the 25th as well.
