HCBL

by Chris Sacchi Just like in Major League Baseball, Wednesday’s Hamptons League wild card match up between the Southampton Breakers and the host Shelter Island Bucks was win or go home. A seasons worth of friendships, camaraderie, and memories were on the line for both squads and a back and forth contest went the way of the Breakers in a 7-4 win. A pair of lefty took the starting nod for each team, and kept it scoreless through two innings. Trevor Olson took the ball for the Bucks, an unconventional pitcher who led his team with a sub 3.00 ERA. Olson isn’t like the usual young prospects of today’s game; he doesn’t light up the radar gun with a max-effort fastball. Instead, he relies on a sidearm delivery, off many speech pitches, and superb command.  Olson was cruising through two innings ...

by Chris Sacchi With their playoff spot already clinched heading into the Sag Harbor Whalers’ matchup in Southampton against the Breakers, manager James Pereira decided to switch things up. Peter Marren, in his first action on the bump since high school, started for Sag Harbor. The usual infielder walked three batters and plunked one in two innings, but allowed only one run thanks to two double plays, a 6-3 initiated by shortstop Brock Franks, and a 5-4-3 started by third baseman Pete Giombetti. Next in for the Whalers on the mound was Johnny Lopez, who led off in the batting order and started in left field. Lopez hit the first batter he faced but also struck out one. During an at-bat against Justice Thompson with a 3-1 count and two out, Lopez motioned for his manager Pereira and removed ...

by Chris Sacchi Despite a weekend with some of the hottest temperatures since 2003, every team in the Hamptons League can’t afford to lose intensity with the playoffs starting on Wednesday and seeding still to be determined.  In a chase for the number one seed, the Westhampton Aviators took down the Southampton Breakers 6-2 in a heat shortened game through 5 and a half innings.  Aviators southpaw starter Ryan Smith was taken out in the first inning, but not due to ineffectiveness. After getting the first two outs, Breakers first baseman Gerard Sweeney hit a bullet up the middle that ricocheted off Smith’s right leg. Smith looked fine initially, breaking towards the ball that was rolling towards third base, and making a throw to first that Sweeny beat out.  Smith then paced around the mound...

The Westhampton Aviators bats came alive on Friday night as they scored 17 runs on 16 hits, defeating the Shelter Island Bucks 17-7 in eight innings. With the victory, and Riverhead’s loss tonight, the Aviators, now 24-11-2, are just one game behind Riverhead for the first seed in the Hamptons League playoffs, beginning next Wednesday.  Florida Southern’s Reed Burke got the start for the Aviators. He threw four and a third innings, giving up two runs, one earned on three hits. Burke retired the first eleven batters he faced.  Westhampton took advantage of a Shelter Island error in the outfield too score three unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Shelter Island starter Trevor Olson (Xavier). The third run came off of a John Tuccillo (Stony Brook) rbi single.  Westhampton L...

By Chris Sacchi Riverhead’s Bobby Vath entered play on Monday against the North Fork Ospreys trying to replicate a historic performance; he had a no-hitter in his last start. The last pitcher in the MLB to throw back to back no hitters was Johnny Vander Meer in 1938, with the second game coming in the first ever night game at Ebbets Field. While Vath couldn’t do what Vander Meer did, he was able to match a current major league player. With 13 strikeouts over six innings, Vath tied the Tomcats record for strikeouts in a game, set twice by Nick Tropeano in 2009. Tropeano now pitches out of the Los Angeles Angels bullpen. “It feels pretty good,” Vath said postgame, as seen on the AxcessBaseball twitter. Given a chance to go back out for the seventh inning, Vath might have been able to break t...

The Riverhead Tomcats came away with a win and a tie in Sunday’s doubleheader against the Long Island Road Warriors in two seven inning games. With seven games remaining for both teams in the 2019 HCBL season, the Tomcats are 23-8-2 in first place, and the Road Warriors are 10-21-2 in seventh.  GAME 1 Riverhead defeated Long Island 7-6 in game one, on the road at Bellport High School.  Long Island’s Anthony Jacabacci of the University of Bridgeport got the start on the mound and fired three innings, giving up five runs on three hits with four walks. Jacabacci gave up a leadoff single to UMass Lowell’s Rob Gallagher, who then stole second. Jacabacci walked the next two batters and with the bases loaded and nobody out, Penn catcher Andrew Hernandez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, scoring ...

For the third time this season, the Westhampton Aviators scored over 10 runs in a single inning as they put a 12 spot on the Sag Harbor Whalers in the bottom of the seventh, resulting in a 12-2 mercy victory. The Aviators head into the All Star break at 21-10-1 tied with Riverhead for first place. The Whalers, now 16-15, have fallen to fourth place.  Gabe Karslo of Fordham got the start for the Westhampton Aviators. He gave up two runs on five hits, striking out five batters in four innings of work. He began the game with two straight punch outs before walking Sag Harbor shortstop Brock Franks (Northwest Florida State). Karslo induced a groundball to the next batter to get out of the first inning.  Southpaw Duke Jordan of LSU Eunice took the mound in the bottom of the first inning for Sag ...