Ward Melville is moving on!
Pinch hitter Derek Savicki hits a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th and the Patriots eliminate Longwood with a 3-2 win
Ward Melville will face Pat-Med tomorrow pic.twitter.com/AlrqSGiNEN
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2023
With the bases loaded, 1 out and the game tied 2-2, Ward Melville junior Derek Savicki was called upon to pinch hit against Longwood RHP Louis Kaleb.
“All I was thinking is hit the ball hard,” said Savicki. “I knew that if I put a ballin play, good things would come from it. I tried my best to stay as relaxed as possible, knowing how big of a spot I was in a I knew I had to get the job done for my whole team,” said Savicki.
He was able to elevate a pitch to deep center field that was tracked down by the CF, Mikey Arbuiso, but was plenty deep enough to score the runner from third for the thrilling 3-2 victory in 9 innings and sent Ward Melville into the Conference II Finals against Pat-Med on Tuesday.
Early on, it was a total pitcher’s duel as Charlie West for Ward Melville and Luciano Lorefice for Longwood went toe-to-toe and each pitcher had their ‘A’ game. In fact, both pitchers faced the minimum through three innings of play.
Lorefice blinked first in the fourth inning when he allowed a one-out triple to Jason Sfakis. Jack Friend was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners with one-out. With Nick Carnovale batting, Friend stole second and the throw was cut off by the second baseman who threw out Sfakis at the plate for the second out. Carnovale wound up ripping a grounder at the third baseman and reached safely to put runners at the corners again with two outs. Carnovale stole second to put two runners in scoring position. The next batter, Alex Moraitis ripped a two-run single through the left side to give Ward Melville a 2-0 lead.
With the way West was dominating it certainly appeared that would be enough runs of support.
After a fifth inning, the bats for Longwood woke up in the sixth inning. Moccio led off with a single up the middle, but was forced out on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Mikey Arbuiso. Arbuiso moved to second on a wild pitch. The next batter, Louis Kaleb, came through with an RBI single up the middle to cut the deficit to 2-1. It was Kaleb’s second hit of the game, he also doubled in the fourth inning but was thrown out attempting to stretch it into a triple. The next batter, Danny Gagliano, roped a single through the same area of the field to score Kaleb and tie the game up at 2-2. West was able to bear down and strike out Ben Moscatiello to end the inning.
Top 6: Longwood has come to life with back-to-back RBI singles by Louis Kaleb and Danny Gagliano
Longwood 2, Ward Melville 2 pic.twitter.com/jgr41nDFre
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2023
Lorefice, now off the hook, was able to fire a 1-2-3 sixth inning thanks to a sterling diving play from Jaden Urso at second base.
West, appearing to get stronger as the game went on, struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 seventh inning – bringing his total to 10 on the day.
In the bottom of the 7th, Ward Melville was looking to walk it off and they threatened to. Alex Moraitis walked, and Lorefice hit two batters with a pitch, but with the bases loaded, he was able to coax a come backer off the bat of Rob Looney.
End of 7: We head to extras ! Ward Melville loaded up the bases but Lorefice retires Rob Looney to escape unscathed pic.twitter.com/fNjhbV8NOB
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 22, 2023
In the top of the 8th, Mikey Arbuiso hit a one-out single but the next two batters struck out. West’s day was finished with 12 strikeouts, 2 ER over 8 innings, yielding five hits.
Lorefice finished his day with a flourish, striking out the side in the 8th inning, bringing his total to six on the day.
Wyatt Wiskoff came on in relief and he did his job, firing a scoreless inning in the 9th – working around a two-out single by Lorefice to get his team back in the dugout.
In the 9th, Kaleb came on in relief for the Lions. He allowed a leadoff triple to Nick Carnovale. At that point, with the winning run 90 feet away it was pretty clear Ward Melville would not be denied this victory. After an intentional walk and HBP, an infield pop out was the first out of the inning. Savicki pinch hit in the 8th spot in the lineup. He knew his job and he accomplished that task with the walk-off hit to send the Ward Melville faithful home happy.
In regards to playing with Charles West, he said, “It’s always awesome watching him pitch but today was great watching him go 8 innings keeping the score close. He always throws his heart out there for us helping us win games,” he added.
They will advance to the Conference II Finals where they will travel to face Pat-Med.
