{"id":36910,"date":"2018-07-28T18:57:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T13:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/?p=36910"},"modified":"2018-07-28T18:57:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T13:57:34","slug":"long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Long Island forces a game 3 in the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HamptonsLeague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@HamptonsLeague<\/a> semifinal and our Player of the Game is winning pitcher, Sal Zafonte. The Cortland lefty tossed 3.1 innings in relief, surrendering only two hits. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/884jQyzvsE\">pic.twitter.com\/884jQyzvsE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/axcessbaseball\/status\/1022987955487625216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The defending HCBL champions were playing for their season Friday afternoon. Long Island lost its opening playoff game to <strong>Westhampton<\/strong> at home Thursday, meaning a loss would spoil its opportunity to repeat. But Friday\u2019s game went much differently than Thursday\u2019s and the Road Warriors proved deserving of their name. <strong>Neal Heaton\u2019s<\/strong> squad never trailed in a 6-2 victory at <em>Aviator Field<\/em> to even up the semifinal series at one game apiece.<\/p>\n<p>Westhampton sent their best starting pitcher to the hill in <strong>Tyler Thorington<\/strong>. The league\u2019s regular season ERA champion pitched seven innings Sunday in the team\u2019s second-to-last game before the postseason and was ready to go in the Aviators\u2019 first playoff game. Thorington would face Long Island\u2019s <strong>Chris Mott<\/strong>, who earned a no-decision in his only start against Westhampton this summer after tossing five scoreless innings.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33407 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/unnamed-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/unnamed-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/unnamed-768x441.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/unnamed.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/172;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Neither pitcher gave an inch in the first two innings, but the Road Warriors got inspired in the third. <strong>Eric Roubal<\/strong> reached second on a lead-off hit, then <strong>Joe Rosselli<\/strong> reached first on a bunt that advanced his teammate to third. <strong>Patrick Lagravinese<\/strong> came up to the plate and scorched a ground ball to <strong>Michael Amandola<\/strong> at second. Amandola could not field the grounder, both Rosselli and Lagravinese were safe and Long Island was on the board. Later that frame, <strong>Matt Codispoti<\/strong> walked and <strong>Matthew Stepnoski<\/strong> was hit by a pitch to double their lead to 2-0.<\/p>\n<p>Things stayed quiet until the top of the fifth. Thorington started to find his stuff after a rough third inning, but he let one pitch hang too much and <strong>Marcos Perivolaris<\/strong> made him pay. The SUNY Cortland-senior crushed a solo home run to break Thorington\u2019s streak of six straight retired batters.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33366 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/strength-heals-jpeg-1-300x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/strength-heals-jpeg-1-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/strength-heals-jpeg-1-768x558.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/strength-heals-jpeg-1.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/218;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While Mott was exceptional for Long Island, Westhampton had its chances to score. The Aviators left six runners stranding in their first four innings without scoring a run and again had two in the bottom of the fifth. Coach Heaton saw Mott was making it too close for a fourth consecutive frame and pulled him in favor of <strong>Sal Zafonte<\/strong> with two outs. Zafonte was tasked with sitting down <strong>Ethan Hajdukovic<\/strong>, who hit a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats. The lefty\u2019s confidence was obvious from the moment he took the ball and he struck out Hajdukovic to end the threat.<\/p>\n<p>The score held at 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. Thorington did not go out for the start of the inning as <strong>Charlie Barbieri<\/strong> signaled for <strong>Zach Hersh<\/strong>. It was a brief outing for Hersh as he would face only three batters, surrendering a run and getting only one out in his time. <strong>Ryan Karp<\/strong> took over after Perivolaris\u2019 RBI single and it did not take long for Long Island to readjust. Codispoti sent the second pitch he saw a long way over the fence to put the Road Warriors up 6-0.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33377 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/pro-game-300x192.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/pro-game-300x192.png 300w, https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/pro-game.png 315w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/192;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The game got away from Westhampton in a hurry and the pitching from Long Island made sure the Aviators were never back in it. Following his one-out fifth inning, Zafonte faced a perfect six batters to get out of the sixth and seventh frames unscathed. The one blemish to his playoff resume was a solo homer he allowed to <strong>Tristan Welch<\/strong> in the bottom of the eighth, but he left his team in good hands when he exited ahead of the ninth.<\/p>\n<p>Long Island had a comfortable 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but a questionable decision from coach Heaton that inning may haunt the team in Saturday\u2019s game. Heaton elected to send closer <strong>Brandon LaManna<\/strong> to finish game after he pitched the ninth inning on Thursday. It took LaManna 16 pitches to end game 2 and he surrendered a home run to Amandola in the process. Nonetheless, game 3 is confirmed as the Road Warriors even up the series with a 6-2 victory.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33376 aligncenter lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Island_Baseball_2018_FINAL-300x231.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"231\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/231;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Our Player of the Game is <strong>Sal Zafonte<\/strong>, who finished with a line of two hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in over three innings of relief. The defending champion Road Warriors head back home to host the Aviators Saturday in the winner-take-all semifinal finale. The victor of that game takes on the winner of the Sag Harbor\/ Riverhead series, that will also be determined Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long Island forces a game 3 in the @HamptonsLeague semifinal and our Player of the Game is winning pitcher, Sal Zafonte. The Cortland lefty tossed 3.1 innings in relief, surrendering only two hits. pic.twitter.com\/884jQyzvsE \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 27, 2018 The defending HCBL champions were playing for their season Friday afternoon. Long Island lost its opening playoff game to Westhampton at home Thursday, meaning a loss would spoil its opportunity to repeat. But Friday\u2019s game went much differently than Thursday\u2019s and the Road Warriors proved deserving of their name. Neal Heaton\u2019s squad never trailed in a 6-2 victory at Aviator Field to even up the semifinal series at one game apiece. Westhampton sent their best starting pitcher to the hill in Tyler Thorington. The league\u2019s regular season ERA champion pitched seven innings Sunday in the team\u2019s second-to-last game before the postseason and was ready to go in the Aviators\u2019 first playoff game. Thorington would face Long Island\u2019s Chris Mott, who earned a no-decision in his only start against Westhampton this summer after tossing five scoreless innings. Neither pitcher gave an inch in the first two innings, but the Road Warriors got inspired in the third. Eric Roubal reached second on a lead-off hit, then Joe Rosselli reached first on a bunt that advanced his teammate to third. Patrick Lagravinese came up to the plate and scorched a ground ball to Michael Amandola at second. Amandola could not field the grounder, both Rosselli and Lagravinese were safe and Long Island was on the board. Later that frame, Matt Codispoti walked and Matthew Stepnoski was hit by a pitch to double their lead to 2-0. Things stayed quiet until the top of the fifth. Thorington started to find his stuff after a rough third inning, but he let one pitch hang too much and Marcos Perivolaris made him pay. The SUNY Cortland-senior crushed a solo home run to break Thorington\u2019s streak of six straight retired batters. While Mott was exceptional for Long Island, Westhampton had its chances to score. The Aviators left six runners stranding in their first four innings without scoring a run and again had two in the bottom of the fifth. Coach Heaton saw Mott was making it too close for a fourth consecutive frame and pulled him in favor of Sal Zafonte with two outs. Zafonte was tasked with sitting down Ethan Hajdukovic, who hit a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats. The lefty\u2019s confidence was obvious from the moment he took the ball and he struck out Hajdukovic to end the threat. The score held at 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. Thorington did not go out for the start of the inning as Charlie Barbieri signaled for Zach Hersh. It was a brief outing for Hersh as he would face only three batters, surrendering a run and getting only one out in his time. Ryan Karp took over after Perivolaris\u2019 RBI single and it did not take long for Long Island to readjust. Codispoti sent the second pitch he saw a long way over the fence to put the Road Warriors up 6-0. The game got away from Westhampton in a hurry and the pitching from Long Island made sure the Aviators were never back in it. Following his one-out fifth inning, Zafonte faced a perfect six batters to get out of the sixth and seventh frames unscathed. The one blemish to his playoff resume was a solo homer he allowed to Tristan Welch in the bottom of the eighth, but he left his team in good hands when he exited ahead of the ninth. Long Island had a comfortable 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but a questionable decision from coach Heaton that inning may haunt the team in Saturday\u2019s game. Heaton elected to send closer Brandon LaManna to finish game after he pitched the ninth inning on Thursday. It took LaManna 16 pitches to end game 2 and he surrendered a home run to Amandola in the process. Nonetheless, game 3 is confirmed as the Road Warriors even up the series with a 6-2 victory. Our Player of the Game is Sal Zafonte, who finished with a line of two hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in over three innings of relief. The defending champion Road Warriors head back home to host the Aviators Saturday in the winner-take-all semifinal finale. The victor of that game takes on the winner of the Sag Harbor\/ Riverhead series, that will also be determined Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1474,"featured_media":36915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,472,461],"tags":[911,1357],"class_list":{"0":"post-36910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"category-game-recaps","9":"category-news","10":"tag-hamptons-league","11":"tag-hcbl"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday - Axcess Baseball<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday - Axcess Baseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long Island forces a game 3 in the @HamptonsLeague semifinal and our Player of the Game is winning pitcher, Sal Zafonte. The Cortland lefty tossed 3.1 innings in relief, surrendering only two hits. pic.twitter.com\/884jQyzvsE \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 27, 2018 The defending HCBL champions were playing for their season Friday afternoon. Long Island lost its opening playoff game to Westhampton at home Thursday, meaning a loss would spoil its opportunity to repeat. But Friday\u2019s game went much differently than Thursday\u2019s and the Road Warriors proved deserving of their name. Neal Heaton\u2019s squad never trailed in a 6-2 victory at Aviator Field to even up the semifinal series at one game apiece. Westhampton sent their best starting pitcher to the hill in Tyler Thorington. The league\u2019s regular season ERA champion pitched seven innings Sunday in the team\u2019s second-to-last game before the postseason and was ready to go in the Aviators\u2019 first playoff game. Thorington would face Long Island\u2019s Chris Mott, who earned a no-decision in his only start against Westhampton this summer after tossing five scoreless innings. Neither pitcher gave an inch in the first two innings, but the Road Warriors got inspired in the third. Eric Roubal reached second on a lead-off hit, then Joe Rosselli reached first on a bunt that advanced his teammate to third. Patrick Lagravinese came up to the plate and scorched a ground ball to Michael Amandola at second. Amandola could not field the grounder, both Rosselli and Lagravinese were safe and Long Island was on the board. Later that frame, Matt Codispoti walked and Matthew Stepnoski was hit by a pitch to double their lead to 2-0. Things stayed quiet until the top of the fifth. Thorington started to find his stuff after a rough third inning, but he let one pitch hang too much and Marcos Perivolaris made him pay. The SUNY Cortland-senior crushed a solo home run to break Thorington\u2019s streak of six straight retired batters. While Mott was exceptional for Long Island, Westhampton had its chances to score. The Aviators left six runners stranding in their first four innings without scoring a run and again had two in the bottom of the fifth. Coach Heaton saw Mott was making it too close for a fourth consecutive frame and pulled him in favor of Sal Zafonte with two outs. Zafonte was tasked with sitting down Ethan Hajdukovic, who hit a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats. The lefty\u2019s confidence was obvious from the moment he took the ball and he struck out Hajdukovic to end the threat. The score held at 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. Thorington did not go out for the start of the inning as Charlie Barbieri signaled for Zach Hersh. It was a brief outing for Hersh as he would face only three batters, surrendering a run and getting only one out in his time. Ryan Karp took over after Perivolaris\u2019 RBI single and it did not take long for Long Island to readjust. Codispoti sent the second pitch he saw a long way over the fence to put the Road Warriors up 6-0. The game got away from Westhampton in a hurry and the pitching from Long Island made sure the Aviators were never back in it. Following his one-out fifth inning, Zafonte faced a perfect six batters to get out of the sixth and seventh frames unscathed. The one blemish to his playoff resume was a solo homer he allowed to Tristan Welch in the bottom of the eighth, but he left his team in good hands when he exited ahead of the ninth. Long Island had a comfortable 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but a questionable decision from coach Heaton that inning may haunt the team in Saturday\u2019s game. Heaton elected to send closer Brandon LaManna to finish game after he pitched the ninth inning on Thursday. It took LaManna 16 pitches to end game 2 and he surrendered a home run to Amandola in the process. Nonetheless, game 3 is confirmed as the Road Warriors even up the series with a 6-2 victory. Our Player of the Game is Sal Zafonte, who finished with a line of two hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in over three innings of relief. The defending champion Road Warriors head back home to host the Aviators Saturday in the winner-take-all semifinal finale. The victor of that game takes on the winner of the Sag Harbor\/ Riverhead series, that will also be determined Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Axcess Baseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-28T13:57:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6415.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Paura\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@axcessbaseball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Paura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Paura\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0066c92c55162e206d2f72fc0290ef0b\"},\"headline\":\"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-28T13:57:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\"},\"wordCount\":768,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6415.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Hamptons League\",\"HCBL\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\",\"Game Recaps\",\"NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/\",\"name\":\"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday - 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The Cortland lefty tossed 3.1 innings in relief, surrendering only two hits. pic.twitter.com\/884jQyzvsE \u2014 Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 27, 2018 The defending HCBL champions were playing for their season Friday afternoon. Long Island lost its opening playoff game to Westhampton at home Thursday, meaning a loss would spoil its opportunity to repeat. But Friday\u2019s game went much differently than Thursday\u2019s and the Road Warriors proved deserving of their name. Neal Heaton\u2019s squad never trailed in a 6-2 victory at Aviator Field to even up the semifinal series at one game apiece. Westhampton sent their best starting pitcher to the hill in Tyler Thorington. The league\u2019s regular season ERA champion pitched seven innings Sunday in the team\u2019s second-to-last game before the postseason and was ready to go in the Aviators\u2019 first playoff game. Thorington would face Long Island\u2019s Chris Mott, who earned a no-decision in his only start against Westhampton this summer after tossing five scoreless innings. Neither pitcher gave an inch in the first two innings, but the Road Warriors got inspired in the third. Eric Roubal reached second on a lead-off hit, then Joe Rosselli reached first on a bunt that advanced his teammate to third. Patrick Lagravinese came up to the plate and scorched a ground ball to Michael Amandola at second. Amandola could not field the grounder, both Rosselli and Lagravinese were safe and Long Island was on the board. Later that frame, Matt Codispoti walked and Matthew Stepnoski was hit by a pitch to double their lead to 2-0. Things stayed quiet until the top of the fifth. Thorington started to find his stuff after a rough third inning, but he let one pitch hang too much and Marcos Perivolaris made him pay. The SUNY Cortland-senior crushed a solo home run to break Thorington\u2019s streak of six straight retired batters. While Mott was exceptional for Long Island, Westhampton had its chances to score. The Aviators left six runners stranding in their first four innings without scoring a run and again had two in the bottom of the fifth. Coach Heaton saw Mott was making it too close for a fourth consecutive frame and pulled him in favor of Sal Zafonte with two outs. Zafonte was tasked with sitting down Ethan Hajdukovic, who hit a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats. The lefty\u2019s confidence was obvious from the moment he took the ball and he struck out Hajdukovic to end the threat. The score held at 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. Thorington did not go out for the start of the inning as Charlie Barbieri signaled for Zach Hersh. It was a brief outing for Hersh as he would face only three batters, surrendering a run and getting only one out in his time. Ryan Karp took over after Perivolaris\u2019 RBI single and it did not take long for Long Island to readjust. Codispoti sent the second pitch he saw a long way over the fence to put the Road Warriors up 6-0. The game got away from Westhampton in a hurry and the pitching from Long Island made sure the Aviators were never back in it. Following his one-out fifth inning, Zafonte faced a perfect six batters to get out of the sixth and seventh frames unscathed. The one blemish to his playoff resume was a solo homer he allowed to Tristan Welch in the bottom of the eighth, but he left his team in good hands when he exited ahead of the ninth. Long Island had a comfortable 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but a questionable decision from coach Heaton that inning may haunt the team in Saturday\u2019s game. Heaton elected to send closer Brandon LaManna to finish game after he pitched the ninth inning on Thursday. It took LaManna 16 pitches to end game 2 and he surrendered a home run to Amandola in the process. Nonetheless, game 3 is confirmed as the Road Warriors even up the series with a 6-2 victory. Our Player of the Game is Sal Zafonte, who finished with a line of two hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in over three innings of relief. The defending champion Road Warriors head back home to host the Aviators Saturday in the winner-take-all semifinal finale. The victor of that game takes on the winner of the Sag Harbor\/ Riverhead series, that will also be determined Saturday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/","og_site_name":"Axcess Baseball","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/axcessbaseball","article_published_time":"2018-07-28T13:57:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6415.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Justin Paura","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@axcessbaseball","twitter_site":"@axcessbaseball","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Paura","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Paura","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0066c92c55162e206d2f72fc0290ef0b"},"headline":"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday","datePublished":"2018-07-28T13:57:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/"},"wordCount":768,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6415.jpg","keywords":["Hamptons League","HCBL"],"articleSection":["Archive","Game Recaps","NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/","url":"https:\/\/www.axcessbaseball.com\/2018\/07\/28\/long-island-survives-to-force-winner-take-all-game-saturday\/","name":"Long Island Survives to Force Winner-Take-All Game Saturday - 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