Final: Longwood 7, Sachem East 1
WP: CJ Forman (CG, 6 Ks, 1 R)Moscatiello: 3-for-4, 3 RBIs, 2 stolen bases
Longwood improves to 7-2 on the season to get even in standings with Sachem East pic.twitter.com/ozTZ6VMQbj
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 17, 2023
With one game separating them in the standings, today was a crucial game between Longwood and host Sachem East. The Longwood Lions sent junior CJ Forman to the mound against a formidable Sachem East team that entered with a record of 7-1.
Forman was outstanding, as he went the distance and struck out five batters in the victory for the Lions as they were able to create a tie atop the standings.
Sachem East countered with Austin Barrett, and he was very effective in the early going as the pitchers traded zeros for the first two innings and Barrett had a shutout through three innings.
The Arrows got on the board first in the home half of the third when Nik Antinoro led off with a double and he was sacrificed to third on a perfect bunt by Joe Richetti. Sam Leonard came through with an RBI single to make it a 1-0 game in favor of Sachem East.
The lead would not last long, though, as the Lions were able to even the score in the top of the fourth. Ben Moscatiello led off with a single and stole second with the throw allowing him to advance to third. After a ground out for the first out, Jaden Urso sat back on a breaking ball and looped an RBI single to score Moscatiello to make it a 1-1 game. A 6-4-3 double play ended the inning.
After Forman worked around a two-out single for a scoreless inning in the fourth, the Lions bats would go to work and break the game open.
CJ Forman was lights-out in a critical game for Longwood as they defeated Sachem East 7-1 to get even in the standings. Forman went the distance and struck out six batters. He’s our Player of the Game @GCsports pic.twitter.com/6nkSaWWGIj
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 17, 2023
It got started with a single and consecutive errors which allowed Louis Kaleb to come up with the bases loaded and drive a fly ball out to right field which was deep enough for a sacrifice fly to give Longwood the 2-1 lead. Brody Herbst followed with a single of his own which loaded the bases for Ben Moscatiello who came through with a line drive to center that took a fortuitous bounce and went over the CF head and cleared the bases. Moscatiello scampered to third and it created a 5-1 lead in favor of Longwood.
That was more than enough for Forman, but the Lions added on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings to open up a 7-1 lead. He went back out and finished what he started with a 1-2-3 inning.
With the win, Longwood and Sachem East are both 7-2 on the season. Speaking after the game, Forman was succinct that the team’s goals is simply to win the league as they are not trying to get ahead of themselves.
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow at Longwood HS with first pitch coming at 4pm.
