Mattituck has been cruising through the competition all year long, compiling a 14-0 record in League VIII. But at Mattituck High School on Friday against Center Moriches it looked more like cruise control.
A usually strong hitting lineup, the Tuckers couldn’t get anything going against Center Moriches’ Dan Franchi, who limited them to just one run that scored as a result of an error in his seven innings of work.
It was essentially a rematch of last year’s Suffolk County championship game where Franchi faced off against Marcos Perivolaris. The Tuckers took that game, 1-0 in a great pitching effort on both sides. It was no different this time around.
“It’s like a tradition to have these two pitch against each other,” Tuckers head coach Steve DeCaro said. “They both came to play today.”
Perivolaris had a no-hitter through five innings but without any run support, the one run lead would soon fall at the hands of Franchi. He connected on a RBI double in the sixth inning to score Tony Parlotto and tie the game at 1-1.
The game would go into extra innings.
“It was really weird because we’ve never gone so deep in a game only scoring one run,” first baseman Ian Nish said. “We went into extra innings for the first time all year.”
With both starting pitchers out of the game after seven innings, it became a battle of the bullpens with Mattituck’s Chris Dwyer and Center Moriches’ Nick Fiscina each taking the ball.
“When you’re used to winning these are the games you’re supposed to win,” DeCaro said. “These are the games we expect to win especially in extra innings.”
The game would remain at 1-1 until the ninth when Tuckers leadoff hitter Joe Tardif started the inning with a walk. He had been thrown out earlier in the game trying to steal second but that didn’t stop DeCaro from sending him again.
“If I didn’t send him he was going to steal anyway,” DeCaro said. “It was best to get him to go when I wanted him to go.”
He stole second base and advanced to third on an arid throw. Suddenly the winning run was standing at third with no outs. Perivolaris followed with a strikeout and Chris Dwyer hit a weak popup to shortstop for a quick two outs before Ian Nish stepped into the plate.
“I was extremely surprised that the two batters in front of me didn’t get him home because we had one of our fastest runners on third,” Nish said. “I thought if they could just put it in play that he could score but going up there I knew somehow I just needed to get it in the outfield.”
Nish took a few pitches and then ripped the ball past the third baseman to win the game, 2-1.
“We don’t have too many walk-offs here at Mattituck,” DeCaro said. “Especially this season. I’m glad we were able to come out on top and stay undefeated.”
How possible is it to finish the season without a blemish on the record?
“At this point I guess we can say it’s a possibility,” Nish said. “But we still have a long way to go.”
With the win Mattituck is now 15-0 and plays Babylon at home on Tuesday.
