Shelter Island boys drop home-and-home series versus Pierson

The Shelter Island junior varsity baseball team dropped two of three against cross-ferry archrival Pierson last week.

The Indians played a doubleheader at the Sag Harbor school on April 29. The Islanders were cruising in the opener of the twin bill when the wheels came off in the bottom of the fifth, with the Whalers scoring 3 runs to win the game 7-6.

A controversial play at the plate may have cost the Indians the win. Catcher Billy Boeklen applied the tag that would have recorded the final out and sealed a 6-5 victory for the Indians. But the umpire said Boeklen missed the tag. On the next play, the Pierson batter knocked in the winning run.

The Indians responded in game two with 6 runs in the second inning to defeat the Whalers 6-4. The winning pitcher was Richard Ruscica, who fanned seven.

Game three of the series took place at Fiske Field on April 30. Liam Adipietro started strong with three shutout innings, and left after four and one-third innings with a 2-1 lead. The Indians traded leads with the Whalers several times. Entering the seventh tied at 4, the home team hoped to take game three and the series.

However, Pierson used small ball by bunting and employing the hit-and-run to score 4 runs, winning the game 8-4.

The standout in game three, in addition to Adipietro, was Will Garrison. He scored two runs and played a tremendous game in centerfield.

Shelter Island has a 6-3 record with two home games this week — Thursday, May 5 versus Center Moriches and Saturday, May 7 against Babylon.