by Trevor Dugan
The Saints comeback attempt falls just short as the Top Tier Aviators earn the @liboysofsummer Varsity Division championship
FINAL: Aviators 3 – Saints 2 pic.twitter.com/FvSAZfPRAU
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 17, 2024
The Top Tier Aviators and Long Island Saints met Saturday morning at East Islip High School in the Boys of Summer Varsity Division Championship. Both teams won their semi-final matchups, also played Saturday morning, 11-0.
Andrew Buckshaw got the start for the Saints and promptly struck out the first batter of the game. The Aviators then hit back-to-back singles, and were able to score their first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Nick Moraitis.
Buckshaw then recorded another swinging strikeout to end the first inning. He would finish with six strikeouts in just four innings of work.
Top Tier held a 1-0 lead after a hectic top of the first. Dan McConnell took the mound for the Aviators and fired a 1-2-3 shutdown inning in the bottom of the frame, a sign of things to come as he would remain in the game until the final out.
The Saints didn’t need to wait long for another chance to hit. Buckshaw answered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the second, and by this point both pitchers were settling in nicely.
In the top of the third, the Aviators pushed across two more runs to bring their lead to 3-0. Back-to-back throwing errors by the Saints infield allowed one run to score, while the second came on an RBI double by catcher Christian Meadows.
Another shutdown inning by McConnell kept the score at 3-0 following that outburst by the Aviators. Through three innings, McConnell had six strikeouts, and would end up with 12 on the day.
It was a true pitchers duel from that point onward, as pitchers on both sides continued to rack up the strikeouts. Paul McNally entered to pitch for the Saints in the fifth inning, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out four in just two innings.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the seventh that another run would cross the plate. With the season on the line, McConnell came out for the seventh inning to try and finish off his complete game shutout. But the Saints were not going to go down without a fight.
After a pop-out to start the inning, the Saints got back-to-back singles by Matt Orgera and McNally. A balk moved both runners up a base, then first baseman Kevin Brown drove in Orgera to make it 3-1. McConnell struck out the next batter, but then allowed another single to Buckshaw which cut the Aviator lead to just 3-2.
Unfazed by all this, Top Tier Head Coach Steve Bruno chose to stick with his pitcher despite the tough inning. McConnell struck out the final batter to earn the Aviators a hard fought championship victory.
Bruno was ecstatic after the game, and commended his players for their years of hard work after what may have been their final season together.
“I think it’s a culmination of a lot of things that started back in 12u with a lot of these players,” Bruno told Axcess Baseball. “One of the things we say here in this organization is ‘trust the process’.”
“You’ve got to trust your players,” he continued. “They came through for us today and we’re very proud of them.”
The Aviators finish the season with a record of 15-5-1, while the Saints finish 18-7-1.
