Postgame interview with Sachem North RHP Billy Bullock pic.twitter.com/rZxjlojBeP
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 30, 2022
Whether you scored it a hit or an error, it’s undisputable that Billy Bullock fired a gem and Sachem North completed a huge sweep over League II rival Ward Melville in a 4-1 victory at Bill Batewell Field.
Bullock has been outstanding all season for the Arrows who improved to 8-4 in league play. He noted that “nobody was talking about us when the season started,” and now they are three games behind the reigning Long Island Champs, Commack, in the standings.
The Arrows wasted no time getting on the board against Ward Melville starter and UCONN-commit Charles West. They got a leadoff single by Bullock, and RBI double by Billy McKinney and RBI triple by Ryan Barlow to make it a 2-0 game.
Bullock set down the first 7 hitters to face him before hitting Tyler Jean-Noel for the first base runner. He promptly retired Rob Looney and Tommy Ribaudo to elude any damage.
West had settled in at that point, he fired scoreless innings in the second, third and fourth innings which gave his team a chance to claw back.
They did get on the board in the fourth inning.
After Jack Friend reached on an error to start the inning, Jordan Goddard struck out for the first out. Friend went to third on an errant pick off throw by Bullock to get into scoring position. The next batter, Alex Moraitis, hit a hard ground ball that was not handled by the third baseman. I had scored it a hit, Ward Melville scored it a hit, but Sachem had scored it an error to keep the no-hitter in tact. Regardless, Bullock escaped the inning with the lead after Nick Carnovale pop into an inning-ending double play.
In the top of the fifth, Bullock fired a 1-2-3 inning with two grounders and a fly out to keep it a 2-1 game.
Bottom 5: Brandon O’Neill comes through with a bases loaded single and Sachem North leads 4-1 pic.twitter.com/rzoRYzDpx6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 29, 2022
He received some breathing room in the fifth when McKinney drew a one-out walk, as did Paul Fiene to bring up Ryan Barlow. He reached on an infield single in what was almost a great play by SS Jack Friend. The following batter, Brandon O’Neill hit an RBI single to center that was misplayed by the CF to score a second run and open up a 4-1 lead. West escaped with two strikeouts to end the inning.
In the sixth, Rob Looney struck out to open the inning. Catcher Tom Ribaudo walked, and with Ward Melville trying to get something going, they put a hit-and-run play on that wound up an inning-ending 4-3 DP.
Bullock went back out for the seventh and struck out the first batter, before issuing a walk to Alex Moraitis to let the potential tying run on deck. But he struck out Nick Carnovale and induced a grounder to end the ball game. He struck out six batters over 7 innings, issued two walks, hit one batter, allowed one run (0 ER) and either allowed 0 or 1 hits. In the end, it was a huge win for Sachem North and they will now finish their regular season against Bay Shore and Lindenhurst before entering postseason play.
