Final: East Islip 2 | Hauppauge 4
W: Matt Neglia
L: Lucas Patton
SV: John Margolies pic.twitter.com/uuWAFHGOOv— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2024
by Tucker Terranova
After wrapping up a stellar regular season with a commanding 15-3 record in conference play and clinching the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk County AA playoffs, Hauppauge began their journey for a championship against No. 5 East Islip.
In the two squad’s regular season matchup, Mike Oliveto emerged as the hero by hitting a walk-off grand slam, capping off a storybook 10-7 victory.
Today, he played the hero again.
Spearheaded by standout performances from Oliveto and Matt Neglia, Hauppauge’s seasoned squad, boasting 13 seniors, showed their experience in a hard-fought 4-2 win this afternoon.
Hauppauge’s offense wasted no time, as Tucker Brown led off the game with a double that narrowly escaped the sprawling reach of left fielder Alex Ciampi, perfectly placed on the white chalk line.
While there may have been doubt about where Brown’s ball landed, there was none regarding Oliveto’s.
He crushed the first pitch he saw well past the right-field fence, a no-doubter that put Hauppauge up 2-0. By the time the first inning was over, the potent Hauppauge attack had already taxed East Islip starter Lucas Patton for four hits.
“We knew we had to get some runs in early, and it felt good to get the job done,” Oliveto said in a postgame interview with Axcess Baseball. “I was looking fastball, trying to sit and drive a ball.”
Patton settled in after the first, holding Hauppauge scoreless over the next four innings.
Matt Neglia navigated the first three frames with ease for Hauppauge, keeping the East Islip offense in check with only one baserunner courtesy of a single from Chris LaMacchia and retiring the first eight he faced.
East Islip broke through in the fourth with a two-out rally kickstarted by a single from Costarelli, who then swiped second. Brady Kneisel worked a seven-pitch walk to bring up Patton with runners at second and first, and he helped his own cause, depositing Neglia’s offering into the left-center field gap, tying the game at 2-2.
Mike Oliveto discussing his 3-3, 2 RBI day in a 4-2 Hauppauge win. pic.twitter.com/HCW4AOrfiE
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2024
It looked like Hauppauge was going to generate a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the fifth when St. Thomas Aquinas commit John Margolies ripped a single to left and Oliveto lined a single of his own for his third hit of the day. However, Patton bore down and retired Neglia, keeping the score knotted at 2.
East Islip answered by loading the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Neglia forced Brody Cross to ground out and escaped untouched.
The bottom half of the sixth inning would prove to be the difference-maker, as Kevin Walker provided Hauppauge with the game-winning run on an RBI double. Then, Tucker Brown perfectly executed a suicide squeeze, simultaneously beating out the throw for a single, extending Hauppauge’s lead to 4-2 heading into the seventh.
Margolies would be called upon for the save and made easy work of East Islip, as he closed out the game by striking out the side.
Neglia provided Hauppauge with six innings of two-run baseball on five hits while walking two en route to the win.
With the win, Hauppauge will advance to play No. 7 Comsewogue this Sunday.
East Islip will square off with No. 2 Smithtown West on Saturday, hoping to keep their season alive.
“We’re all pumped up, and we all want this bad.”
