Bucks in first place in Hamptons League

Bad weather continues to haunt the Shelter Island Bucks.

Roughly two and a half weeks into the 2013 Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League season, few things have bothered the Bucks. The team currently holds a 6-3 record and first place in the league. But rain keeps getting in the Bucks’ way.

This past week the Bucks had one game postponed due to pending bad weather (their third postponed game of the season) and one game suspended due to rain (their third suspended game of the season).

On Tuesday night, the team took on the Southampton Breakers at Fiske Field. Jon Young of Rutgers University pitched a phenomenal game, going eight and one-third innings allowing only three hits, and two of those were questionable infield singles.

The Bucks went into the top of the ninth inning up 1-0 before an error allowed the Breakers’ leadoff hitter and center fielder Kyle Zech to reach base. Zech would eventually score after another Bucks’ error.

After the Bucks failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, the teams played two scoreless extra innings before the heavens opened and suspended the game. The Bucks’ lone run of the game came in the fourth after a double from designated hitter Jimmy Jack of Loyola Marymount University drove in shortstop Justin Jones of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

The biggest story Tuesday was Young’s pitching performance. “I was happy to do well for this squad,” he said. “I threw a bunch of strikes and they just didn’t get any wood on it.”

Young analyzed his game by citing two fundamentals: “Just hitting spots and changing speeds.”

Coach Johnny Hernandez meanwhile said his pitcher’s effort came to a little more than that. “He didn’t throw so well his last outing so I’m sure he was eager to get out there,” Hernandez commented. “When you throw strikes you’re going to do OK.”

Earlier in the week, the Bucks traveled to Sag Harbor to take on the Whalers, then Peconic to meet the North Fork Ospreys and to Westhampton to battle the Aviators. The Bucks beat the Whalers 10-2 on Saturday in a rematch of their season opener, which they lost in Sag Harbor. Then on Sunday night, they lost a close one against the Ospreys, 4-2. On Monday night, a four-run ninth inning rally resulted in a win for the Bucks over the Aviators, 6-2.

The Bucks play two home games this weekend at Fiske Field on Friday and Sunday. Both games begin at 5 p.m.