By Trevor Dugan
B1 Ghost and the Islip Owls Baseball Club met for a doubleheader Sunday morning at East Islip High School, as part of the LI Boys of Summer fall Varsity Division.
The Owls spoke to Axcess following their successful day here in Islip pic.twitter.com/pbbTC69gFI
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 29, 2024
GAME ONE
The first game of the day got started at 9:00 A.M. Starting on the mound for the Owls was the lefty Dylan Longo, a 2026 graduate of East Islip High School. Longo looked sharp on Sunday, but B1 was able to get to him in the first inning.
The second batter of the game, Sean Solivan, slapped a single to left, then promptly stole both second and third base. He was driven in by Aiden Susi to give B1 a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first.
B1 went with the right-handed pitcher Yishy Jespersen to start game one. He fired a shutdown inning in the bottom of the first, and would pitch the entire game for B1.
Despite allowing eleven hits, he was able to pitch out of multiple jams to keep his team in the game. His final line was 5.2 innings pitched, five strikeouts and four earned runs.
It would remain 1-0 until the top of the third, when B1 pushed across another run to stretch their lead to two. Solivan was involved once again in the scoring play, driving in Jespersen from third base to give his team a 2-0 cushion. Solivan finished game one 3-3 with one run scored and an RBI.
The Owls immediately responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own. A pair of errors and a walk loaded the bases for the Owls as Jake Urban came to the plate. He was able to knock in two runs with a base hit into the outfield, tying the game at two. The next batter, Vin Loweth, ripped an RBI double to left to give the Owls a 3-2 lead.
Ever the back and forth affair, this game was tied once again in the top of the fourth. After an error, a stolen base, and a single, B1 had runners on the corners with no outs.
A passed ball allowed the runner to score from third, tying the game at three, but Longo recorded three straight strikeouts to end the inning and limit the damage to just one run. Longo would finish with seven strikeouts.
With both pitchers in a groove the game remained tied at three into the sixth inning. Facing the prospect of the game ending in a tie due to the time limit, the Owls got one more chance to hit in the bottom of the sixth.
Loweth led the inning off with a single, and was replaced by a pinch runner. The game ended two batters later, when Nikko Rodriguez drove one down the left field line to bring in the game winning run.
The Owls won game one by a final score of 4-3.
GAME TWO
The first game of the day between B1 and the Owls was neck and neck, and truly could have gone either way. The same can’t be said for the second game of their doubleheader.
In the beginning at least, it seemed as though game two would be another low scoring affair, as both starting pitchers were looking sharp out of the gate. B1 starter Joseph Lordi pitched a very efficient scoreless first inning, as did his counterpart Owls SP Greg Inserillo.
It wasn’t until the third inning that the Owls offense broke through. It was looking like another quick inning, with two of the first three batters getting sat down by Lordi. But a walk and a single loaded the bases with two outs as Brendan Murphy stepped into the box.
After a lengthy at-bat in which he fouled off several pitches, Murphy drove a ball down the left field line and into the corner to bring home all three runners. He would be driven in by the next batter, Jake Urban, putting the Owls on top 4-0 halfway through the third.
When asked about his big hit in the postgame interview, Murphy chose to uplift his teammates instead of focusing on his own achievements.
“It was an amazing feeling, those guys in the dugout were cheering me on, wanting to win the game which is the most important thing,” Murphy told Axcess. “We were passing the baton and got plenty of big hits from guys like Vin Loweth, Andrew Nitzche and many others.”
B1 got a few runs of their own in the third inning. SP Lordi led off the inning with a single. The next batter walked, then they were both driven in by Richard Torres, cutting the Owls lead to 4-2.
Those were the only runs surrendered by the Owls in game two. Inserillo appeared to be in control throughout his five innings pitched. He surrendered just four hits and struck out four batters.
The fourth inning was scoreless, and featured a few exceptional defensive plays by both sides. The inning ended when Dylan Casani made a diving catch on a sinking line drive to center field.
The Owls pushed across one more run in the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Chris DiFilippo. They held a 5-2 lead over B1 heading into the bottom of the frame, and Inserillo kept it that way, firing a 1-2-3 shutdown inning before exiting the game.
Three more runs would come across for the Owls in the sixth, two of them coming on an RBI single by Conor Lockwood. Lockwood finished 2-3 with three RBI, and also pitched a scoreless bottom of the sixth for the Owls.
The Owls scored twice more in the top of the seventh to deny B1 a chance to hit again and earn a 10-2 mercy rule victory.
B1 falls to 0-6 on the Fall season, and will return to Boys of Summer action October 26 at Eisenhower Park against the LI Mustangs.
The Owls improve to 4-2 on the season. Their next game will once again be at East Islip High School, this time against the Long Island Saints this coming Sunday.
