by Gabe Zoda
FINAL (Game 1):
East End Baseball Academy: 2
LI Lightning: 1 pic.twitter.com/2ZldWx9oqm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 1, 2023
The LI Lightning and the East End Baseball Academy split a doubleheader on Sunday. East End won the first game by a score of 2-1 and the Lightning won the second game by a score of 12-8.
It was Aidan Gibbs’ performance on the mound that willed East End to victory. His 6 innings of one run ball was enough to hold the Lightning offense. He also added 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.
East End would get on the board first in the top of the second inning on a wild pitch that scored Max Liendo who led off the second inning with a shot to left center that landed him on 2nd. He then stole 3rd and used a Wild pitch to plate himself.
It would take until the fourth inning for the equalizer to come through for the LI Lightning. Once again, it was not off of an RBI but off of smart and reactive baserunning. This time, from Joey Byalick. He reached base on a one out single over the head of the 2nd baseman. He then moved over to 2nd after Zach Sisto was hit by a pitch. This is when East End tried to pick off Sisto at first, but the throw went awry allowing Byalick to not only steal 3rd, but to come home and score as well.
It truly was a pitching duel in the first game, Aidan Gibbs pitched really well for East End but Zach Sisto also had a really nice performance on the mound as well as he would finish with:
6IP, 6Ks, 2BBs, 1ER.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Lightning had an opportunity to take the lead. This is when East End flashed the leather and prevented a run from coming in.
There was a runner on 2nd base with 2-outs. Joey Byalick at the plate. Byalick slaps one the other way to the SS, the runner on 2nd goes to third and then tries to take home as well on the throw to first. They didn’t get the Byalick at first but a perfect strike from first baseman Hunter Johnson allowed East End to cut down the runner at home to keep the game tied at 1 going into the seventh inning.
East End would capitalize on that momentum and score the winning run in the top of the seventh inning. It all started and finished with Hunter Johnson who led off the inning with a single back up the middle. He would then showcase his speed by stealing 2nd and 3rd bases. Any mistake was fatal for the Lighting and they made one. On a normal throw back from catcher to pitcher, the throw was missed and trickled into the infield grass. Noticing this mistake, Hunter Johnson sprinted home and was safe to give East End the lead.
East End called on Andrew Johnstone to close out the bottom of the seventh and he would give East End the game 1 victory.
Game 2
FINAL/5 (GAME 2):
LI Lightning: 12
East End Baseball Academy: 8 pic.twitter.com/OxlkJrgjwt
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 2, 2023
The second game was nothing like the first. Both offenses kicked into gear, which led to 20 runs being scored.
The scoring started in the top of the second, just like in the game prior. This time it would be Micheal Seglin for the LI Lightning taking advantage of a passed ball to score from 3rd. Seglin reached base on an E-5 then stole 2nd and 3rd, and eventually came in to score.
The Lightning weren’t done in the second inning though as Tyler Wright and Anthony Palladino would come in to score. They both reached on walks but Wright came in on another passed ball which allowed Palladino to move over to 3rd base.
This allowed Zach Sisto to come up to the plate, he belted one into the left center gap to score Palladino and give the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, East End would immediately load up the bases, allowing Tom Cataldo to smack in a run on an opposite field fielder’s choice. This made it a 3-1 ballgame going into the third inning.
2 more runs came in the top of the 3rd inning off of back to back RBI singles from both Michael Seglin and Tyler Wright making it a 5-1 ballgame.
This is where things started to get crazy in this game. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Jack Gerkin led off the half inning with a walk, he would then steal 2nd and 3rd and take advantage of an overthrown pickoff attempt to score.
East End held the Lightning scoreless in the top of the 4th inning, this acted as a boost of confidence for East End as the pitching in the second game had gotten sloppy.
This set up the bottom of the 4th inning, an inning in which East End would claim the lead for the first time after a massive 4 run inning.
It all started with back to back walks to both Max Liendo and Andrew Johnstone. Ben Walsh then came up and placed a ground ball perfectly in the 5-6 hole, giving him enough time to leg out and infield single and move the other runners up a base.
Arroz De La Cruz and Jack Gerkin would score a run apiece off of walks with the bases loaded to make it a 5-4 ballgame. Passed balls would allow both Jack Gerkin and Manny Ortega (who was pinch running for De La Cruz) to score and gave East End a 6-5 lead and a new sense of life.
This new found life was short lived, as in the top of the 5th (the last inning due to time restraints) the Lightning would bat around the order and plate 7 players to give them a 12-6 lead.
The big hit came with the bases loaded and Anthony Palladino at the plate. He shot a ball right back up the middle and drove in 2 runs.
They scored another run off of a bases loaded walk to Tyler Wright right before the Palladino hit and then afterwards, Dustin Basnyat hit an RBI single to make it 9-6. 3 more runs would come in on throwing errors and after the dust had settled, it was 12-6.
In the bottom of the 5th, East End would attempt to make a comeback but their 2 runs were not enough as Joey Byalick came in and closed the door on game 2, securing the split.
