By Blake Buscemi
Gargano retires Adamo to end the game after a couple of North Fork runs to end the game.
Final: South Shore 6, North Fork 3 pic.twitter.com/omWT1Zb2Xf— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2022
Another Hamptons League matchup took place at Cochran Park in Peconic this afternoon, this time between the South Shore Clippers and the North Fork Ospreys. I covered a Clippers game last week and saw some impressive performances, so I knew I would see some more notable performances today.
Adelphi standout John Rizzo took the mound for the Clippers, coming off a ten-strikeout performance last week. He faced off against Andrew Neff, who pitches for the University of Cincinnati. Neff was rolling right away, as he induced a groundout to short from Adelphi’s Johnny Catuosco, strikeout of Bryant’s James Myler, and flyout of Creighton’s Jack Peluso, stranding St. Thomas Aquinas’s Peter DeVito on base after a single. Rizzo matched Neff by inducing a pop out and two groundouts to conclude a scoreless first.
The action started to ramp up in the top of the second, when Hofstra’s Luke Napolitano hit a dribbler to third that Iona’s Matt Shuhet scooped up with his bare hand to throw him out. Hofstra’s Matt Pelcher reached on an infield single and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth catcher Matt Tempone walked, leading to a 3-run blast over the left field wall by George Washington’s Dom Camera. Rizzo threw a one, two, three inning in the bottom of the second to maintain the 3-0 lead.
The third inning was hitless as both Neff and Rizzo induced weak contact and did not allow any hits. The top of the fourth was the same way, featuring a Napolitano strikeout, Pelcher flyout, and Tempone strikeout. The Ospreys got one back in the bottom of the inning, as University of Pennsylvania’s Asa Wilson hit a no-doubter to left to make it a 3-1 game.
Little action occurred until the top of the sixth, when North Fork made a costly error on a pickoff attempt that resulted in James Myler coming around to score from second base after his single. John Rizzo went one, two, three again in the bottom of the sixth, wrapping up his day with only one run allowed and four strikeouts total in six innings.
The game sat at a 4-1 score until the top of the ninth, when Johnny Catuosco singled to center field, Peter DeVito walked, Ryan McIntyre singled, and James Myler hit a sac fly. Jack Peluso and Luke Napolitano walked, resulting in another run to come across to make it a 6-1 game. The Ospreys made it interesting in the bottom of the inning by adding two runs, but the game ended in a 6-3 victory of the Clippers. They improve to 4-3 on the year.
John Rizzo takes us through how he’s been able to stay consistent and the adjustments he’s made early on this season. pic.twitter.com/xeleXqbAz5
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 17, 2022
Notables:
John Rizzo: 6 innings pitched, 1 earned run, four strikeouts
Dom Camera: 3-run home run in top of the second
Asa Wilson: solo home run in the bottom of the fourth
Peter DeVito: 2-3 with two walks
