It didn’t take long for the Mattituck offense to explode in game two of the first round, three-game playoff series against No. 4 Port Jefferson (11-11) on Friday afternoon.
Playing in front of a big Royals home crowd, two big bats who share the same last name came to life as the Tuckers rolled to a 15-4 victory and advanced to the county championship for the third straight year.
After two runners reached base in the first inning, Ian Nish blasted a double deep to the outfield and scored both runners. The hits would keep coming and by the inning’s end, Mattituck (21-1) already held a 5-0 lead.
“The last few games it felt like we weren’t really able to jump out and score runs in the first innings,” Nish said. “So it felt good to get on the board right away.”
But errors would come in bunches that made the game a little closer than it needed to be early on. Coach Steve DeCaro ended pre-game infield/outfield early because he didn’t like what he saw. The sloppiness carried over to the game.
“It was embarrassing so we just stopped,” DeCaro said. “We practice how we play and like you saw it carried over to the game.”
The Tuckers committed three errors in the bottom of the second inning and the Royals tacked on four unearned runs against Marcos Perivolaris who never lost composure and got the Tuckers through the rest of the game unscathed.
“Silly mistakes,” DeCaro said. “We made Marcos stay out there way too long.”
He threw six innings before Chris Dwyer came to shut the door on Port Jefferson’s season for good.
But the bats kept adding to their lead. In the top of the 5th inning, Ian’s brother, James, launched his sixth home run of the season to right center. There was no doubt off the bat and Nish even stopped for a brief moment to see it fly over the fence.
“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in the air,” Nish said. “But I wasn’t sure it was going. I definitely thought I hit it hard enough.”
So of course he had to make sure it went over before he took his jog around the base paths.
It almost seemed as though Mattituck was taking batting practice. Asked whether a game like this going into the county championship against No. 2 Babylon would help or hurt, Ian Nish responded: “it’s helpful because I think it gives us momentum and I think momentum is huge when going against a great team like Babylon.”
Mattituck has only lost one game this season and that was to Babylon in heartbreaking fashion, 3-2.
The first game of the Class B county championship series will be played in Mattituck on Tuesday at 4pm.
“Can’t wait,” DeCaro said. “We have one blemish on our record and it’s ’cause of Babylon.”
Joe Tardif will get the start on the mound for game one.
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Michael Hejmej
