By: Daniel Lopes
Clarke Head Coach Tom Abruscato speaks after his teams 8-5 victory over Plainedge on Friday. pic.twitter.com/8glinAsSzK
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 22, 2022
In a tight battle between Nassau Conference A-IV division rivals Clarke and Plainedge, Clarke came out on top with an 8-5 victory at home on Friday morning. Nick Berasti and Ben Ellenport started on the mound for Clarke and Plainedge, respectively, with Berasti earning the victory.
After a scoreless top of the first inning, Clarke wasted no time getting on the board, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning within the first three batters. After Nick Giardino and Zaim Deljanin drew walks to start the innings, Sean Welsh found a gap in the opposite field and legged out a two-run triple to give them a 2-0 lead. They added another run in the bottom of the second inning when Tom Roche drove in Justin Rindner with a single to make it a 3-0 game.
Plainedge began to rally back in the top of the third inning, scoring two runs of their own to bring the game within one. Their two-run inning was incredibly similar to Clarke’s two-run inning, as Marcelo Licata and Tyler Kregeloh walked to start the rally. Pat Reyes provided the run scoring hit, hitting a bases clearing triple to make it a 3-2 game. They started to gain some momentum in the bottom of the third, when Ellenport got them out of a jam by coaxing a line out and getting a strikeout looking on a curveball to end the inning.
However, Clarke responded to the pressure, getting out of a jam of their own and adding two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Giancarlo Rengifo scored on a wild pickoff throw, and Giardino hit an RBI sacrifice fly to give them a 5-2 lead.
Plainedge once again bounced back in the top of the fifth, rallying to score two runs of their own, cutting the deficit back to one run. Kregeloh and Reyes both hit singles, and they scored on a two-run single by Nick Gerardi to make it a 5-4 game.
Once again, Clarke had more offense in them, scoring three runs to make it an 8-4 game. Welsh and Berasti started the inning by reaching on a double and fielder’s choice, and both scored on a double from Jacob Dandic. Dandic came around to score later in the inning on an error off the bat of Rindner to cap off the rally.
Plainedge rallies, but Clarke gets out of the jam, forcing a groundout and earning the win.
FINAL|| Clarke 8, Plainedge 5 pic.twitter.com/IMjtz8TDS7
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 22, 2022
After both teams went scoreless in the sixth inning, Plainedge put together one last rally in the seventh inning to try and tie the game with Matt Cardozo on the mound to close it out for Clarke. With one out, Kregeloh and Reyes singled. After a strikeout, Gerardi walked to load the bases. In his first at-bat of the game, Nick Ranaudo came up clutch, hitting an RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-5. However, on the next batter, Cardozo got a groundout to shut the door on the rally and earn the victory for Clarke.
Berasti pitched the bulk of the game for Clarke, striking out six batters in four innings. Deljanin also pitched an inning before Cardozo came in to close the game.
