Connetquot Torched Patchogue-Medford amid Summer Heat

A five-run second inning Thursday fueled ninth-seeded Connetquot's 17-11 win to eliminate visiting Patchogue-Medford from the playoffs. 

The Raiders raced out to a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning.  Connetquot, however, took a 2-1 lead with a walk and three singles, sandwiched around a fly ball out.  After a bunt single loaded the bases, Catcher Joe Pasqualino fielded the ball in front of the plate, stepped on home and threw out the batter at first base for an inning-ending double-play.   

The above double-play would only delay the inevitable.  Head Coach Tony Frascogna began the home half of the second inning by relieving sophomore Danny D'Onofrio, who would be the losing pitcher of record.  Connetquot promptly tacked on 5 more runs to stretch their lead to 7-1.    

"Their team is very good," said Frascogna of the home team.  "We knew that they hit the ball really well.  It seemed that every ball they put into play found a spot to land, which was too much to overcome." 

Patchogue-Medford would surrender another run in the third inning before mounting a comeback in the top of the fourth inning.  Peter Agnetti, sophomore, doubled in senior Kyle Wilson to make it 8-2.   The Raiders pulled to within 2 runs with RBI singles from sophomore Frankie Capraro, and seniors Kevin Deutsh and Joe Pasqualino.  Amid these base hits, fellow senior Brian Cioffi's sacrifice fly brought in another run. 

Since clinching a playoff berth last week, the fifth inning has been costly for the Raiders.  In the first game after securing a post-season date, William Floyd scored three runs on a missed pop fly.  A wild pitch by Kyle Schwartz allowed two runners on first and second to advance to second and third; Brian Hennelly, of Sachem North, promptly singled both runners home.  After giving up the lead in the previous inning against Smithtown East yesterday, Junior Mendez surrendered an RBI single and hit two batters. 

This trend continued yesterday.  The Thunderbirds batted around and notched 8 more runs.  Frascogna used 2 more relief pitchers during the inning, who each plunked a batter.  Through five innings, the lead grew to 11.

While Patchogue-Medford failed to come back, they pulled within 6 runs in the next half inning.  Capraro ran out an infield single after the throw from third pulled the first baseman off the bag.  Tyler Moston, who also pitched three innings after relieving the starter, doubled in Capraro for a run with a hit off the centerfield fence.  Thomas Rubenstein, junior, singled in two more runs.  After senior Kyle Wilson, leading off at first base, drew an errant throw from the catcher, Rubenstein trotted home from third as the throw bounced into the outfield.  Eddie Morrissey, fellow senior, notched another RBI single to make it 17-11. 

"I'm real proud of them," Frascogna said.  "They played real hard and fought to the end.  If we played with this kind of intensity all season, we might have won one or two more games [to] get us a home game.

"Of course I wish we would've won," Frascogna continued.  "But, I can't fault our effort and can't really be upset about [the loss].  I told our team, 'the only reason why this is a sad day was not because of the loss, but because we don't get to have the seniors around anymore.'  I was glad they came to play.  I was happy with the bench.  It really made me feel like we have a bright future ahead of us."

Although his team has no more games this year, Frascogna's Raiders will begin their upward climb toward next year's tournament next week.  "We'll actually start practicing for the summer next week.  We have our team that will stick around and work all summer.  I'll talk to each guy and say, 'you'll have to work on this or that.'  A lot of the young guys have to work on their composure.  I think they're going to be fine."