Nick Rizzo fired a complete game in East Islip’s 8-4 win over Eastport-South Manor pic.twitter.com/sU1te6NRHz
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2022
As far as postseason assignments go, facing an undefeated Division-I commit on the road is about as tough as it gets. East Islip, the reigning Long Island Champions, would not let that slow them down as they came away with an 8-4 victory in the first round of the Suffolk Conference IV playoffs against Eastport-South Manor.
The Redmen scored a run in each of the first three innings against Hostra-commit Jake Deslauriers who entered the game with an unblemished record of 7-0, 0.83 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. They broke the game open with a five-spot in the fifth inning to make it an 8-3 ballgame.
East Islip had their own Division-I commit on the mound, Nick Rizzo, who happens to have plenty of big-game experience after winning the Suffolk County championship against Harborfields last June.
Following the game, the low-key Rizzo stated that he was unhappy about the amount of walks he issued as opposed to taking any jabs against the No. 2 ranked team in the Class A playoffs.
It was a surprisingly high-scoring game considering the quality of pitchers on the mound, but each team brought their bats in the early going.
East Islip jumped out to a 1-0 lead on an RBI single to right field off the bat of senior catcher Nick Winegard. He scored Derek Burrell, the ultra-speedy outfielder who walked and stole second. They actually had a bad break as Nick Rizzo ripped a liner off the field ump that was ruled a dead ball as opposed to a double. It was a moot point after the RBI single from Windegard. East Islip forced Deslauriers to work hard, as they loaded the bases before an infield pop out and strikeout ended the jam.
ESM tied it up in the home half of the first on an RBI single by Deslauriers, who entered the day with a team-leading 19 RBIs. He scored Drew McGowan who walked and stole second.
The lead did not last long as Dan O’Donnell was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a single by Anthony Rigogliosi, moved to third on a walk to Rizzo and scored on a bases loaded walk drawn by Winegard. They stranded the bases loaded with a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Once again, ESM responded with a run in their half of the second. Rich Stanya led off the inning with a single and stole second. After a groundout to third, Danny Tiedemann ripped an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. Rizzo was able to avoid further damage despite back-to-back walks thanks to a strikeout of Drew McGowan to end the inning on an outside corner fastball.
In the top of the third, East Islip scored again. This time on a sac fly to left field off the bat of Anthony Rigogliosi to give the Redmen a 3-2 lead. He scored Derek Duncan who led off with a single to center field.
Rizzo was able to settle in from that point on. He worked around a two-out single by Tristan Gatchalian to throw a zero in the third. That was as close as ESM would get. Rizzo was able to fire a 1-2-3 fourth inning which was followed by the big five-run frame for EI to break the game open.
It started with an infield single by Gavin Veltman. The next batter bunted back to Deslauriers who tried to make a throw on the run to second but it got away. A single by Rigogliosi loaded the bases for Burrell who was able to put the bat on the ball with two strikes and bring a run in on a dribbler back to the mound. Two-run bloop double by Winegard made it a 6-2 game, a balk brought home the 7th run and an E5 off the bat of Anthony DeSane made it 8-2.
ESM was able to score in the fifth inning on another RBI single by Deslauriers and in the 7th on an E5 but the game was in-hand. Rizzo was able to finish off the job for the tough road win against a 16-win team.
East Islip will now face Rocky Point, who just blew out West Babylon, 20-3. ESM will face West Babylon in the loser’s bracket.
