Takeaways from Horseheads' win over Union-Endicott for STAC baseball title
Horseheads watched a five-run, fourth-inning lead disintegrate, took to the last of the sixth all-square with Union-Endicott, then proceed to capitalize in championship form for a 10-6 victory and second consecutive Southern Tier Athletic Conference baseball title.
The Blue Raiders mustered one hit in their four-run sixth — a one-out single by Matt Procopio — to go with three walks, a hit batsman and an error before closing out matters despite permitting the first two U-E batters aboard in the seventh at Mirabito Stadium.
Gavin Wert, Brody Liddy and Dylan Ribble — the bottom three in the order — each had two hits, and Liddy three RBI for the winners, who’ll bring a 16-4 record into Section 4 tournament play.
Key sequences
Highlight-reel material, it was not— but Horseheads will gleefully accept the goings-on in bottom six.
Two were out in a 6-6 ballgame when Dominick Russ was hit by a pitch to load the bases. In succession, Wert was walked, Liddy was walked and, after the Tigers’ second pitching change of the contest, a fielding error was the root of Horseheads’ final two runs.
Do note, that was four two-out runs for the Raiders.
In the top of the seventh, following a walk and a single by U-E, Horseheads turned the tidiest of a 4-6-3 double play and sophomore Alex Daugherty struck out the Tigers’ final batter.
Horseheads charges, Tigers rally
Horseheads made it 3-0 in the first on three hits and some assistance from the Tigers, and 5-0 an inning later thanks to Liddy’s RBI double and a sacrifice fly by Jackson Cook.
Union-Endicott pecked away with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth but trailed 6-3 through six.
In the top of the sixth, the Tigers drew within one when Michael Ferranti’s triple to the wall just left of center scored a pair, and drew even when Cal Machalek dropped a tasty bunt to the right side to bring home a runner from third.
Defense! Defense!
U-E’s good-hands guy, shortstop Jude Abbadessa, halted damage in Horseheads’ second by making a snazzy grab of a one-out, two-on smack and throwing the runner out, then making it back-to-back 6-3s.
With U-E runners at first and second in the fourth, Alex Chrisman craftily snared a ground ball at third, stepped on the base and threw across for the double play.
Tigers right fielder John Marshall atoned for an earlier miscue by high-tailing his way into a wonderful catch in foul territory near the fence with two away and bases loaded in the fourth.
What they had to say
Horseheads coach Jeff Limoncelli:
“Realistically you’ve got two halves to that game. We had a really good first half, they had a great second half, and we were able to win basically that last inning-and-a-half with some timely hitting, took advantage of some walks and all that. We just kept grinding out at-bats. We were down on pitching, guys were tired, guys giving me everything they could. Scoring runs I think kept us confident, especially pitching and defense.”
As for what his team is capable of?
“The pitching isn’t as dominant as we’ve had in the past, but they’re very good pitchers. They can throw three pitches for strikes, so when you do that in high school you’re capable of a lot. I think Corning, in our area, has really good arms and is one of the better teams so that’ll be a problem. Elmira has a competitive team also.
“It’s one of those things where, we’re a good team but it’s high school baseball. You’ve got to pitch it and you’ve got to catch it. If you don’t do that, you don’t win.”
Union-Endicott coach Tim Harkness:
“I thought we came out a little flat, which is kind of expected. You played a hard semifinal in the morning, it’s hot, you come out again and they put a couple runs on the board. We were really flat, but this is a team that won’t give up. We battled back, continued to do what we needed to do and made it close. We got in a position where we had a chance and, unfortunately some breaks didn’t go our way.”
Of his team’s fielding: “Defensively all year we’ve been really good. We made plays. After a long day, who knows? We just miscued, and that’s baseball. You’ve got to put it past you and move on because we’ve still got games remaining.”
Etc., etc.
Rocco Spinelli, Abbadessa and Cooper Hughes had two hits apiece for U-E, which had six players score a run apiece …
Horseheads defeated Owego by 9-3 in its semifinal, following U-E’s 6-4 win against Windsor that dealt the Black Knights a second loss on the season. Abbadessa pitched the distance in that one, allowing two earned runs and striking out 13. Ferranti tripled in that game as well.
Each team had 11 hits in the final, but U-E committed three errors to Horseheads’ one.
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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Takeaways from Horseheads' win over Union-Endicott for STAC baseball title
