by Andrew Barbieri
Bobby Finn is our Muddy Locker Player of the Game. pic.twitter.com/yUtz7p7YF5
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 31, 2023
With a 15-5 win over the Westhampton Aviators to take the best of 3 HCBL Championship Series, the South Shore Clippers won their 1st Championship since 2017, at the time they were the Long Island Road Warriors. All 6 games they played in the postseason were at their opponent’s ballpark, they took 2 of 3 against Sag Harbor to then win 8-7 in game 1 versus Westhampton, then secure a victory in game 3 after a 11-3 loss in game 2.
In all their wins, the common denominator for the Clipper was solid pitching. Against the Whalers in their wins, South Shore only gave up 2 runs and even in their game 1 win against the Aviators where they allowed 7 runs, Matt Tempone gave them 6 innings of 2 run ball.
Game 3 saw almost a replicated performance from Bobby Finn who got the start for the Clippers. Before he took the mound his offense gave him a 4-run cushion. Luke Filippi delivered the most notable hit of the inning as he plugged the right centerfield gap for extra bases to score Tyree Jackson and Ryan Ferremi. Aviators’ starter Jack Turner then plunked Aedan Forde with the bases loaded to make it 3-0, a batter later, Peter DeVito hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4 while the Clippers batted around the order. Finn’s only rough frame in his outing was in the 1st as Jack Halloran hit an infield single to score a run and then Zev Moore cashed in a run with a fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to 4-2.
South Shore once again batted around the order in the 3rd to run away with the game early. Jack Quinlan led off with a single, Turner then lost command of the zone and issued 4 straight walks with the last 2 resulted in RBIs from Phil Krpata, and Jackson. Ferremi would step up to the plate and knock in 2 more runs with a single to make it 8-2. Aidan Larkin followed up and struck a ball to the right center off the newly entered Ryan Miller to plate 2 more and extend the lead to 8.
Tyree Jackson (Hofstra) continuing is stellar performance in the playoffs with his 2nd homer in 3 games and it’s now 14-5. pic.twitter.com/c4aQ3W8VhU
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 31, 2023
The middle innings went smoothly for Miller and Finn, Finn after his shaky 1st would retire 13 batters in a row before surrendering a leadoff single to Tyler Smith in the 6th, Smith would later score on a sac fly from Moore to make it 10-3.
Finn’s outing would be concluded after the 6th and both teams traded a run in the 7th after Ferremi picked up his 3rd RBI of the day and Greg Becil hit a solo shot off reliever Dante Morabito to make the score 11-4. Filippi in the 8th scored on a wild throw to 3rd in effort to throw him out while stealing, then in the final inning Jackson hit a 2-run no doubter to left, and Quinlan added 1 more run with a fielder’s choice that brought Ferremi home. Morabito worked a 1-2-3 9th to end the season on the highest note possible for the Clippers.
For the first time since 2017, the @ClippersHCBL are the @HamptonsLeague Champions! pic.twitter.com/nE6nnL1x3t
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 31, 2023
For the Aviators, it’s the 2nd straight year they lose in Game 3 of the Championship Series as they lost last year on a walk-off to Sag Harbor. They had the most high-powered offense in the league this year with outstanding hitters in Ethan Guerra, Matt Torres, Greg Marmo, Sean Keys and many others to produce runs in bunches in route to having the best record in the regular season. Pitching proved to be their downfall in the coming short this season.
The Clippers ended a season in which they came just shy of the 2 seed in the league to only to win it all when it mattered most. Larkin was named the MVP of the Championship Series as he hit 6-13 with 4 RBIs. Jackson contributed just as much, hitting 2 home runs with 1 of them being the go ahead run.
