Bucks staying competitive in college league
Nearing the halfway point of their 41 game regular season schedule, the Shelter Island Bucks of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL) stand in third place with a record of 10-8-1. They are 6-4 over their last ten games.
The Bucks got a walk off win as Kyle Haag threw five scoreless innings for the home team at Fiske Field on June 21 versus the North Fork Ospreys. Haag allowed just three hits and survived a couple of infield errors over that span. In the top of the sixth however, the Ospreys hit Haag hard.
A leadoff home run by center fielder Parker Bates was the first of seven consecutive hits by the visitors.
Haag departed and left reliever Liam Roden with a bases loaded no-out jam. All three base runners would come around to score as North Fork sent 10 men to the plate before Roden was able to retire the Ospreys. The Bucks trailed 6-3.
In the home half of the sixth the Bucks capitalized on a hit batsman and two walks to narrow the Osprey lead to 6-5 on a fielder’s choice and an RBI single from Jacob Stracner. The Islanders tied the game on an unearned run in the seventh and came up in the bottom of the ninth tied at 6. A walk to Brian Goulard was followed by two strikeouts.
With Goulard on second after a stolen base, Jackson Curb singled to give the Bucks first and third with two outs. Dave Brehm ended the game with a walkoff single scoring Goulard for a thrilling comeback victory. Frank Vesuvio who pitched three scoreless innings earned the win.
Bucks harpooned by Whalers
On June 22 the Sag Harbor Whalers had their hitting shoes on at Fiske Field as they collected 17 runs on 17 hits including a grand slam from third baseman Kevin Buckley of St. John’s off Elijah Brown. The Bucks used six pitchers, including outfielder Steven Barmakian, who mopped up in the eighth inning when the game was mercifully called on account of darkness.
The Bucks managed 13 hits and 8 runs of their own, but after the Whalers sent 12 men to the plate and scored nine times in the sixth, a 16-1 deficit was too much to overcome.
Bucks pitcher Rasesh Pandaya left the game with great pain in his right arm and had to be taken to the hospital by the Shelter Island Emergency Medical Services team. Results of the MRI have not been released.
Clyne shuts them down
In a June 23 road game versus the Southampton Breakers, Bucks ace Patrick Clyne threw a six- hit complete game shutout putting him at 3-0 on the season and lowering his ERA to a microscopic .35 runs per game. Once again, Dave Brehm delivered the winning hit with a sixth inning single. Bucks 1, Breakers 0
Twin killing
In the first game of a June 25 double header, right hander Nick Robinson for the Bucks and Steven Hansen for the North Fork Ospreys locked up in a classic pitcher’s duel. Double-header games are just seven innings in the HCBL, and by the bottom of the sixth, Hansen had allowed zero runs on just three hits.
Robinson was even better, carrying a no hit, one-walk performance into the final frame. But with one out in the seventh, Parker Bates of Louisiana Tech spoiled Robinson’s no hitter and his shutout with a solo shot over the right field fence. North Fork 1 Bucks 0.
Shelter Island will host Southampton on Saturday July 1 at 5 p.m. and Sag Harbor on July 4 at 11 am.
