Warriors baseball battles Bayport ahead of finals
By Bill Landon
Having beaten No. 3 Bayport-Blue Point at home the day before, the No. 2-seeded Comsewogue baseball team looked to put the three-game series away on the road Saturday to advance to the Class A finals, but with the game tied 5-5 in extra innings, Bayport-Blue Point drove home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 6-5 and force a decisive game three.
“We put ourselves in a situation where now we have to play a third game, but we’ve been resilient all year and we’ve got to stay positive,” Comsewogue head coach Mike Bonura said. “We’ve just got to play good baseball and I have all the confidence in the world in them.”
Comsewogue pitcher David Nodeland found himself in trouble in the top of the second inning when he loaded the bases with one out. The Phantoms’ next batter drew a walk, and put his team on the scoreboard, 1-0.
Nodeland struck the next batter out before Bayport-Blue Point lobbed the ball into shallow center field, which drove home a run for the 2-0 lead. The Warriors’ opponent finished the inning with a two-run RBI hit to right field to break out to a 4-0 advantage before Nodeland was able to stop the damage.
Picking up the bat for Comsewogue in the top of the third was Rob Dattoma, who homered deep over the left center fence to put the Warriors on the board.
That was all the team could muster though, and Nodeland, with runners on the corners, pitched his way out of a jam to keep the score 4-1 heading into the top of the fifth.
Senior third baseman Dan Colasanto’s bat spoke next with a base clearing, two-run RBI stand-up double, to help the Warriors draw within one run, 4-3. On a base hit to right field, Colasanto scored from second to tie the game, 4-4, and Jordan Lisco continued the rally when he cracked a deep shot to left field for an RBI-double. With an overthrown pass to second, Lisco was able to make his way to third base, where he would be left stranded.
“We just needed to hit with runners on base and make our plays on the field with no errors,” Lisco said. “The reason we lost today was because of errors, but we’ll come back Tuesday and we’ll win if we can play like we have all season.”
Comsewogue made a pitching change and Justin Virga took over at the mound to begin the bottom of the fifth, where Bayport-Blue Point made the Warriors suffer for it. A stand-up double and two base hits loaded the bases, and Virga walked the next batter to retie the game, at 5-5, but was able to pitch his way out of the inning without giving his opponent the go-ahead run.
Unable to manufacture any runs in the top of the next two innings, the Warriors were again in trouble in the bottom of the seventh when Bayport –Blue Point ripped a base hit to right field to put the winning run on first base with one out.
Comsewogue’s Matt Bohenck came in to pitch the rest of the way, and the next batter grounded the ball to infield, where John Braun was able to make the tag at second and turn the double play to retire the side.
With runners on first and second, the Warriors threatened in the top of the ninth when Colasanto knocked down a bunt and dove to the bag to load the bases.
Bayport was able to hold on though, as Comsewogue stranded all three runners as the game headed into extra innings.
Bayport-Blue Point led off the ninth with a ground ball up the middle for a base hit. The situation grew desperate as the Phantoms loaded the bases, and on the next pitch, a base hit drove in the winning run to put the game away, 6-5, and force a decisive third.
The Warriors will host the Phantoms on Tuesday, with the first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
“We let up,” Colasanto said. “We had a couple of walks and there’s really not much you can do about that. For Tuesday’s game, we can’t get too hyped because that’s when people get over anxious. We know we can beat them, so we just have to stay within ourselves.”
