by Gabe Zoda
FINAL, Aviators 2, Whalers 1. We chatted with Matt Alifano after the game. pic.twitter.com/SrdYB1CcDk
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 30, 2021
There was only one word to describe the contest between the Westhampton Aviators and the Sag Harbor Breakers and that word was heat. Doesn’t matter if you were talking about the 95 degree temperatures or the heat that Nic Luc was throwing on the mound.
This was the second game of the day for both teams as all Hampton’s League teams met up at Baseball Heaven In Yaphank to play baseball.
The Aviators looked to sweep the day after beating Southampton 4-1 while, on the other hand, the Whalers were trying to split the day after losing to the first place Riverhead Tomcats by the score of 7-0.
In this game, the Aviators would narrowly take the victory over the Whalers by the score of 2-1. This matchup ended up being decided by a few critical points in this game and a game that will end up being remembered in history.
The game was scoreless until the 3rd inning due to two dominant innings from the starting pitchers from both sides. Justin Sinibaldi, LP (5IP, 1BB, 6Ks, 1ER), and Nic Luc, WP (6IP, 1BB, 14Ks, 1ER) were striking players out left and right to start the game as it looked like nobody could touch these guys.
As stated before, this would change in the top of the 3rd inning when the Aviators would score the game’s first run and obtain the lead. Jared Anderson would be the one to score but how he was able to do it was pretty interesting. Anderson would get on base with a 1 out double which immediately put him in scoring position. This would bring up Leadoff batter Matt Alifano.
Alifano would ground out for the second out of the inning but the first baseman tried to throw behind Anderson (who was at 3rd at the time) since he was a solid 15 feet away from 3rd base. This throw ended up going over the head of the 3B and went out of play, bringing home Anderson.
The 4th inning would be silent in terms of hitting but not on the mound. Nic Luc continued to dominate and he would prove this by striking out the side. With those 3Ks, he would tie his personal record with 10Ks but he wasn’t quite done yet.
The 5th inning saw both teams score a run. The Aviators would start it off in the top half of the inning. Justin Sinibaldi started off this inning really strong, making it look like another quick inning after getting the first two batters out of the inning.
Matt Alifano would change that as he worked himself on base with a walk. Brad Shimabuku would keep the inning alive with a single which put Alifano in scoring position.
Jake Liberatore would step into the box with two men on and 2 out. He would foul off two tough pitches that kept his at bat and the inning going. On the 4th pitch of the at bat he would find the pitch he was looking for and drilled a base hit into center field.
The second baseman would receive the cutoff and try to get Alifano out at the plate, instead he would throw the ball away allowing Alifano to score easily for the second run of the game for the Aviators.
In the bottom half, the Whalers knew that they needed to get some offense going to give themselves an opportunity to win this game and they would show some promise in the bottom half of the 5th.
In this bottom half, the Whalers seemed to have found a chink in Nic Luc’s Armor. Ryan Mullahey would get things going with a hit by pitch. He was the first base runner for the Whalers in the game. The next batter, Kieran Dowd, would also get a free base as Luc struggled to find the zone. This put 2 runners on with nobody out in the inning.
Luc would strike out the next batter to get one out in the inning ,but in that at bat, he threw a wild pitch which moved Mullahey to third and Dowd to second. This brought up Luke Napolitano with 1 out and 2 runners in scoring position.
Napolitano would make contact with the first pitch he saw and it would end up being a ground out for him but he was able to score Ryan Mullahey.
Nicolas Luc would make history in the 6th inning. In this heat, he seemed to have found a way to keep himself cool throughout the game. He was able to do this by fanning 14 players. This performance would break the Aviators franchise record for Ks in a game and tie the Hamptons League all time record with those 14 strikeouts.
Logan Verrino was able to get the save in the bottom of the 7th. With this victory, the Aviators (9-5) take first place in the league over the Tomcats and look to continue winning in their next game tomorrow against the aforementioned Riverhead squad.
On the other hand, the Breakers (6-8) look to get out of this 2 game skid as they take on the Ospreys tomorrow.
