by Chris Prystupa
Here’s Mattew Filip who had a monster game two in this doubleheader. He spoke with us about how he felt up at the plate and his game plan every time he stepped in the box pic.twitter.com/7RGdaAmNt1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2022
The Long Island Astros and Team Steel squared off at Cantiague park for some Blue Chip collegiate action on Monday night. Both teams would come away with a win as Team Steel took game one by a score of 3-1 and the Astros responded by taking game two by a score of 6-3.
Team Steel would waste no time in game one, capitalizing on a few walks that scored on a hard hit ball from James Ackerman off of Justin Aramini to bring in two runs. The Astros responded right away in the bottom of the first with a run of their own off of AJ Petraitis courtesy of back-to-back doubles from Mike Scordo and Matthew Filip.
The rest of the game would be dominated by some solid pitching as Aramini and Petraitis would throw back to back 1-2-3 innings in the second.
In the fourth inning, Team Steel would tack on another run, padding their lead to 3-1 on James Ackerman’s RBI single. Ackerman would drive in all three of Team Steel’s runs in this first game of the double header. In the bottom half of the fourth, Petraitis would induce a 5-4-3 double play and squander a potential rally for the Astros.
Both teams would bring in new arms out of the bullpen, for the Astros it was Myles Scarry and for Team Steel they called upon Jake Deslauriers. Scarry cruised through his three innings in relief striking out a few hitters in hopes of giving his team a chance to make a comeback. Deslauriers worked through some trouble in his first inning in relief in the sixth by picking up a huge strikeout to keep his team in control. He ultimately closed the game out and earned the save in game one of two.
FINAL(Game 1): Team Steel 3 LI Astros 1 pic.twitter.com/zsfIzn8UQ6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2022
In game two of the double header, Team Steel would yet again waste no time against Derek Livingston, as they put up two runs on a fielder’s choice from Joseph Marchese and a single from Thomas Pranzo. Jason Strickland got the start for Team Steel and was dominant over the course of his three innings as he struck out six batters only allowing one walk.
In the bottom of the third inning, Tyler Hodella would poke one to the right side of the infield just enough for the runner on third to score, extending their lead to 3-0. Hodella would end up coming in to relieve Stickland on the mound in the fourth.
Mattew Filip would continue some of the success he had in game one by bringing his team back within a run in the top of the fourth with a two-run triple. In a 3-2 game in the bottom of the fourth, the Astros would summon Alex Chang out of the pen to keep them in this game. Chang did exactly that as he worked right around a first and third situation with no damage done.
This game would remain a 3-2 ballgame in favor of Team Steel until the top of the sixth innings. With the Astros up to bat, they worked a few counts and managed to get guys on base setting up a big inning. The rally started with a wild pitch from Dominick Persichilli that tied the game up at three. Shortly after that, Matt Filip struck again this time with a two-run single giving the Astros their first lead of the night. Two batters later, Joe Cornielle would scorch an RBI triple into right-center putting the Astros in control of game two with a 6-3 lead. The game would be called in “drop-dead” fashion as the umpires enforced the games time limit resulting in a win for the Astros avoiding the sweep.
