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Shelter Island Bucks tied for first after win over Riverhead

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Infielder Jack Machonis driving the ball during the Bucks home win over Riverhead Wednesday evening.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Infielder Jack Machonis driving the ball during the Bucks home win over Riverhead Wednesday evening.

After crushing three home runs the day before against North Fork, the Shelter Island Bucks struggled to generate offense, managing to escape Fiske Field with a 3-1 victory over the Riverhead Tomcats on Wednesday night.

The Bucks nearly lost Coach Jamie Quinn in the fourth inning, and went on to put three runs across home plate over the next two frames to draw themselves even with Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League-leading Westhampton.

Tim Fallon grounded into a double play with one out in the fourth, preventing a run from scoring and ending the inning. Coach Quinn sprinted on the field to argue the call, firing up his team.

“I just flat out told him, ‘You missed that,’” the Bucks’ skipper said. “Now I don’t argue like that ever, but that right there was an impact call. It cost us a run.”

The Bucks finally broke through against Riverhead starter Jake Reinhardt in the bottom of the fifth, when RJ Going scored on a sacrifice fly hit to centerfield by Chris Hess. Going barely survived a run-down during the previous at-bat.

Shelter Island’s Zack Bahm allowed multiple baserunners for the first time in the sixth inning, but escaped the jam with only one earned run after a critical baserunning mistake by Riverhead. The Tomcats tied the game at one apiece after two consecutive doubles, and a third base hit left runners on the corners with one out. Thinking his team was batting with two outs, Turner Buis never tagged up on a line drive caught by Bucks right fielder Eddie Haus. Although his teammate scored easily on the play, the run was invalidated when Haus threw the ball to first base.

“I’m just trying to throw strikes every time I get out there, and put our team in a position to win,” said Bahm, whose ERA fell to a team-best 1.48 after the game. “All of our starters have been doing it lately,”

Shelter Island’s offense gave their starter his third win of the season by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded, Mark Flynn took his fifth hit-by-pitch of the season to send Haus home. Catcher Chris Tracz added another run with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Jack Machonis.

“You have to use everything you’ve got,” Coach Quinn said. “We do a whole round during batting practice, with a runner on third and less than two outs. You hit the sac fly.”

The Bucks return to action on Thursday, against the Sag Harbor Whalers at Fiske Field.

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Merritt Huber waiting for the sign.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Merritt Huber waiting for the sign.