by Andrew Barbieri
There will be a Game 3! The Aviators defeat the Clippers and we’ll see a winner take all Game 3 to determine the champion tomorrow at 4pm at Aviator Field. pic.twitter.com/Jo7KUzR2EE
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 30, 2023
With their backs against the wall, the Westhampton Aviators, as the away team in their own ballpark, did what they do best which is produce runs as they scored 11 to beat the South Shore Clippers 11-3.
South Shore won Game 1, 8-7, after Tyree Jackson hit a go-ahead home run to give the Clippers the win on Saturday. With the win for Westhampton today, Game 3 will be at 4:00 on Monday at Aviator Field. The Clippers are seeking their 2nd title in club history, the Aviators seeking their 5th.
The main issue for South Shore was they did not have much pitching available as they sent Peter DeVito to the mound, DeVito only pitched once in the regular season and gave up 1 run over 2 innings. While he worked through the 1st inning 1-2-3, the smooth sailing did not last for long for the rising St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore.
Westhampton would manage to score at least 1 run over the next 4 frames in search of forcing a Game 3. In the 2nd Ethan Toone sent a flyball deep enough to score Jack Halloran on a sa fly. While Jackson tied the game for the Clippers with a sac fly of his own, the 1-1 would not last for long.
End of 3 now as Diforte gets a huge double play to escape a bases loaded jam. pic.twitter.com/2YDhtni1qi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 30, 2023
In the 3rd Greg Becil scored Lou Martineau from first with a double, Tyler Smith added another SAC fly, and 1 of Halloran’s 3 singles on the day sent in Matt Torres to makes it 4-1 Aviators. Meanwhile Westhampton’s All-Star Pitcher Michael DiForte had to deal with traffic on the bases in the bottom half of the inning. He plunked Jack Quinlan, gave up a single to Matthew Tempone, and conceded a walk to Aedan Forde to load the bases. With 1 out, DiForte got Ryan Thompson to ground into a 4-3 inning ending double play to escape the jam.
With 1 out in the 4th DeVito had a comebacker come in and out of his glove that allowed Nathan Estrada to reach and give the Aviators an extra life in the 4th. Becil continued to produce as he plated Estrada with a single. Matt Torres then followed up with the team’s 3rd sac fly on the day to make it 6-1.
The lead for the Aviators would continue to get bigger in the 5th as Becil picked up his 3rd RBI of the day with another single. Immediately after, Ethan Guerra ripped a double to right center field to score 2. Torres and Tyler Smith added 2 more runs to give Westhampton a 10-run lead.
After the 6th DiForte’s day was done with a high probability of getting the win with the huge lead in place. Before the game today, DiForte was 5-0 in 7 appearances.
Westhampton continues to score runs in the 5th. They now lead 11-1 after adding 5 more runs to their lead. pic.twitter.com/APpL8f7uUp
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 30, 2023
South Shore would pick up 2 more later to make it 11-3 heading into the 9th. Waldi Perez forced the Clippers into their 3rd double play of the game to end the game.
With the championship on the line, Jack Turner will start tomorrow for the Aviators and the Clippers will counter with Bobby Finn. It will be a battle of All-Stars in the last game of the HCBL season to determine the 2023 championship series.
