Varsity baseball team ends season in style: Take two against Greenport at Fiske Field
The Shelter Island varsity baseball team ended their season on a high note May 15, sweeping a doubleheader at home against the Greenport Porters with scores of 6–5 and 5–0.
The season started for the Islanders with only 10 players. After Hayden Davidson suffered a shattered finger early in the season, the team was down to a minimum of nine players.
Head Coach Peter Miedema and Assistant Coach Mike Dunning took to the hallways to do some late-season recruiting, adding Harry Clark and Dre Ealy to the bench.
They were not the only players brand-new to varsity baseball.
Both players needed to get in required practices before they could take the field. That delay, along with an injury to Jackson Rohr and illnesses on the team, forced the Islanders to forfeit a couple of games.
None of this strife was apparent for the season finale, when the boys suited up against the Porters. The fog lifted as the first game started and the sun was shining on Fiske Field as Island fans filled the bleachers and lined up along the first base line.
Ben Waife was on the mound for the first game, going the distance and striking out 13.
The game was scoreless until the 3rd, when the now-recovered Rohr scored the first run. The Porters soon matched that and in the 6th, with runs scored by Bazzy Quigley-Dunning and Leo Lomuscio, the Islanders trailed the visitors 5–3.
But they made the most of the 7th. Evan Weslek walked, followed by another walk to Rohr, who was replaced on first by pinch runner Dre Ealy.
Harrison Weslek walked as well and it was bases loaded. Bazzy Quigley-Dunning stepped up and crushed a double to center, sending both Ealy and Evan Weslek home to tie the game.
Weslek was nimble, jumping over the catcher and sticking the landing on home plate. His older brother advanced to third and then stole home for the win.
The second game of the twin bill had Harrison Weslek on the mound and Waife at first base. Elijah Davidson, who had caught for Waife the first game, put the pads back on to catch. The first out was made between the brothers Weslek when a Porter tried to steal third and Evan tagged him out. Two strikeouts by Harrison Weslek ended the inning.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the 3rd when an RBI by Harrison Weslek broke the deadlock. The Islanders were solid on defense in the 4th with a strikeout, a quick scoop and throw to first by Luca Martinez, followed by a long centerfield fly caught by Lomuscio.
In the home 5th, Hernandez walked and Ealy came in again to pinch run. Evan Weslek was up when the umpire called a balk on the Porters, advancing Ealy to second. Weslek was on first due to an error, and he promptly stole second.
Harrison Weslek gave fans a little déjà vu of game one, raking a double to center and Ealy and Evan came home. The Islanders were on top 3-0.
Weslek was still strong on the mound. In the top of the 6th, Weslek picked up a bunt and tagged out the runner at first. Evan Weslek smoothly fielded a grounder to third and threw to first for the second out, and Weslek notched a strikeout.
Quigley-Dunning started the home half with a walk, Waife advanced him to third with a fielder’s choice, and Lomuscio singled to center making it 4–0. Lomuscio stole second, then third.
There was a big ruckus when the Porters thought Luca Martinez hit a foul ball, so they failed to pick it up, and Lomuscio went home while Martinez ran to 1st making it 5–0.
After a long season battling injuries, illnesses and forced forfeitures, the Islanders gave everyone something to celebrate on a sunny Sunday.
