Bucks still chasing championship

BY MICHAEL HEJMEJ   SPORTS WRITER

After the Sag Harbor Whalers of the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League scored the first two runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning, the Shelter Island Bucks needed an answer. They were desperate for some kind of spark as their offense was stagnant to that point. Bucks’ shortstop AJ Cook (Elms) stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning at Shelter Island High School on Friday night wanting to change the trajectory of the game. With the crack of the bat, Cook skied the ball into the gap and was on his horses. He picked up coach Vernon Hasty at third base as he was coming around second base and then hesitated a bit before heading to third.

“I didn’t tell him to either stay or come to third because what we do is we tell the runner if the ball is in front of him they can decide themselves,” Hasty said. “And I’m thinking to myself ‘stop AJ, stop’ and here he comes and they got him.”

That slight hesitation proved costly. Cook was thrown out at third and what looked like a potentially promising inning after the first batter, suddenly changed in an instant. But that hit ended up being a spark. The Bucks produced hits from six consecutive batters in the inning, including an RBI double off the bat of Cook as he got redemption with the whole lineup batting around. Shelter Island (20-13) scored seven runs in the inning. The lopsided inning was enough for the Bucks to earn the victory which finished 9-5, after the two teams traded a few runs before the end of the game. 

“After I got thrown out at third I was devastated,” Cook said, who hit 3-for-4 on Friday. “The guys picked me up. I was glad I was able to get back up again in the inning and put another good swing on the ball.”

“With these guys it’s just a matter of time,” Hasty said. “No matter who we’re facing on the mound, we’ve won a couple games coming back after a slow start. The thing is, it’s almost like catching fire. One hit leads to two and two hits leads to three.”

Most of the Bucks’ production came from the bottom of the lineup. Cook batted 9th, Josh Endo (Southwestern), who got three hits and a key RBI single in that fourth inning, hit 8th. Ryan Leclair and John Cannon, who hit 6th and 7th, were the only other two hitters in the lineup with multiple hits.

“I’ve changed around the lineup maybe 28 or 29 times already based on who is hot,” Hasty said. “I was hoping to get those guys at the bottom some fastballs to hit and I guess this was the right lineup today because they all fed off of each other and produced.”

“When everyone is starting to hit around you it’s contagious,” Endo said. “You don’t want to be the one that ends the hot streak. When one of us locks in on the pitcher, it changes our whole dynamic.”

Jack Ruditzky earned the win on the hill as the Sophomore from Ithaca College hurled a gem, only giving up three earned runs over 6 ⅓ innings while striking out seven. He routinely hit the mid-80’s on his fastball and only encountered some trouble in the 4th and then the 7th inning. 

“Ruditzky was solid today,” Hasty said. “And he got stronger as the game went on. He did a great job throwing three of his pitches for strikes. I think a lot of his success stems from Tyler Galletti (Manhattan) being behind the plate. He calls pitches just as good as any catcher I’ve had in my 30 years of coaching. They both kept the hitters off balance all day. That’s why they call it a battery, when the pitcher and catcher are in sync, it usually ends up in a win.”

The Bucks’ victory keeps them atop the standings by a slim two-point margin ahead of the North Fork Ospreys with just three games to go. They’re in control of their own destiny. Three wins in a row and they win the regular season championship.

“This is a super competitive league and I love playing here,” Cook said. “Summer in the Hamptons, how can you complain? It’s been a fun summer playing with this group of guys but before we head out we want to bring Shelter Island a championship. That’s what we’ve been playing for this whole summer and that’s what we want to achieve.”