The seventh inning was a magical one for the Mattituck Tuckers Varsity Baseball team this afternoon.
The Tuckers had barely been on base in the game – never mind on the scoreboard. The Center Moriches Red Devils pummeled them the first seven innings, finishing out the seventh inning – the last in high school regulation baseball – in the lead, 4-0.
But when the Tuckers’ James Nish stepped up to bat in the bottom of the seventh against Devil’s pitcher Patrick Byrant, he put the rest of the game behind him, hitting a single that would set the tone for the remainder of the inning.
Nish made his way to third base over the next two at-bats, followed by Tyler Webb on second. With men on second and third, Will Gildersleeve smacked the ball and brought two runs home. The Tuckers finally put their name on the scoreboard, 4-2.
The Tuckers’ first two runs of the game apparently rekindled the 17-1 team’s fire; they would earn two more runs before Chris Dwyer stepped up at bat with two outs.
Dwyer drove it over the first baseman’s head, allowing Marcus Perivolaris to slide home and bringing the final score to 5-4 in game one of the Suffolk County Class B championship series. Watch the victory here:
The Tuckers, now 18-1, played against Center Moriches earlier in the season in a three game series that brought the Tuckers their only league loss this season.
“They’re hitting the ball better, their catcher’s arm got a lot stronger,” Mattituck Coach Steve DeCaro said of the Red Devils. “Bryant pitched a great game today. I understand why we weren’t able to get many hits off him.”
The two teams will meet again Wednesday in Center Moriches for the second game of the playoff series.
DeCaro is confident in his teams’ ability to finish the series strong. “Worst case scenario, you’ll see us back here Thursday, but we’re going to try to finish this on Wednesday at Center Moriches,” he said.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Emil Breitenbach, Jr.
Click photos to enlarge.
{gallery}2014_0519_baseball{/gallery}
