Raiders snapped losing streak at three to stave off elimination

Tenth seeded Patchogue-Medford edged out Smithtown East Tuesday on the road 3-2.

 After propelling Patchogue-Medford into the playoffs, Junior Mendez's 5-strikeout outing helped to extend their season. 

 "He's one of the top kids in the county," said head coach Tony Frascogna of Mendez.  "When he's on the mound, we have a chance.  He strikes people out and takes a little pressure off the defense.  When we have our other guys, our defense really has to be sharp."

 The game began with a somewhat unsettling similarly to Saturday's affair; Patchogue-Medford took a lead in the first inning—this time 1-0 with an RBI single by Thomas Rubenstein.  In stark contrast to Saturday's collapse, which was fueled by sloppy fielding, the Raiders responded to their opponent rallying to tie the game.  Just like with Sachem North, Smithtown East cashed in on a defensive error to do so.  Patchogue-Medford allowed the lead runner to easily score after botching what should have been a brilliant pickoff play against the runner at first base.  The Raiders successfully executed the pickoff move, however, in the following two innings. 

The Raiders suffered through another stressful inning in the fifth.  Mendez plunked two batters after giving up a one-out RBI single.  Cheers of "get him out of there," after the second batter was hit, coming from the Bulls' dugout may have ruined the Raiders' composure as well.  Mendez recovered by recording a ground out. 

 "There was a second, but everybody got together and said, 'all right, we'll get them.  We'll get another run,'" said Frascogna of his team's desire to prevent history from repeating itself.  "The guys were very responsive to the pressure today.  They seemed a lot more confident like they were going to come back."  

 Joe Pasquellino, catcher and All-County selectee, responded by beating out a hard-hit ball for a single.  After Bulls catcher overthrew second base to try to nail him, Pasquellino raced home to tie the score.  Senior Eddie Morrissey singled in the go ahead run. 

"Our rallies really all started with infield singles and Pasquellino getting on base," Frascogna said of the senior catcher, who stole four bases and notched two hits.  "He pretty much spearheaded the whole thing by getting on base and stealing the bases.  He put a lot of pressure on their defense.  Their catcher threw one away and we get back in the game."

The Raiders will travel next to Connetquot High School for a 4pm game in the hopes of extending their AA Championship dreams.  Kenny Jackson's grand slam in the sixth inning Tuesday pushed Connetquot past Commack. 

 "Connetquot is a great team," said Frascogna.  "They hit the ball really well.  We're going to try to stress the same things—keep the ball down and give [ourselves] a chance to get a couple of runs.

"Our guys are riding a little high today, said Frascogna, of his team snapping its losing streak.  "Maybe we'll go into that game with some confidence and put some pressure on that team to lose a game.  However, be happy you won but we don't have time to think about it because we have to go back to work tomorrow."