By Dylan Butler
Joe Kessler could only shake his head. The Bayside Yankees Junior Americans’ head coach was befuddled after his team’s come-from-behind 6-2 win over the North Shore Royals Friday in a Federation Amateur Baseball League game at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington, L.I.
After hitting the ball well in the first inning, Kessler was sure his team would glide to an easy win over the struggling Royals. But North Shore pitcher Jason Tumbiolo shut down the Yankees’ offense for the next four innings and it took a deficit for the Bayside bats to awake again as the team scored six runs in the final two innings, including five in the seventh, for the win.
“Usually when our team comes out and hits like that we score about 10 runs,” Kessler said. “It’s usually the opposite of what actually happened.”
Bayside (27-5, 17-3 FABL) jumped on Tumbiolo right out of the gate as Cardozo junior Bernie Estevez from Whitestone singled to right and Joseph Graziano was hit by a pitch. Whitestone resident Michael Baxter, a senior at Archbishop Molloy, smoked the ball, but right at shortstop Joe Cantaese, who caught Estevez off second base for the double play. Bryan Cipolla also singled to right field before John Armenio grounded out to second to end the inning.
For the next four innings, Tumbiolo dominated Bayside, allowing just two hits while striking out five.
Tumbiolo’s opponent on the hill, Flushing’s Matt Fealey, was equally effective. The 6-foot-5 righty from Molloy wasn’t overpowering, but he had good command of his pitches. Fealey had four strikeouts, but he allowed the defense behind him to make the plays. They did just that, turning a pair of double plays in the third and fourth innings.
“I know I’m not going to blow by guys,” said Fealey, who improved to 5-0. “I let them put the ball in play and hope the guys behind me pick it up. It’s been like that the whole season, I’ve had some solid fielding.”
After four scoreless innings, North Shore (4-14-1 FABL) made the most of Michael Saluzzi’s lead-off walk as he scored on Thomas Hinderhofer’s opposite field triple that fell just inside the line to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Bayside answered right back as Estevez led off the inning with a walk. He moved to second on Graziano’s sacrifice bunt and scored two batters later on Cipolla’s ground-rule double to right to tie the score at 1.
North Shore went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Tumbiolo scored when Saluzzi just beat out a potential inning-ending double play.
Tumbiolo tired in the top of the seventh and walked three of the first four batters he faced. He also allowed a single to right by St. Francis Prep’s Jason Leberfeld. The Yankees tied the score at 2 when Tumbiolo balked home Ryan Rowe and went ahead 3-2 when Leberfeld scored on Estevez’s ground out to second. The Yankees tacked on three more runs, including two on Cipolla’s bases-loaded single to right to break the game open.
“We hit the ball hard early, but right at them,” said Cipolla from Northport, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. “When they scored we realized we could lose this game and we got some key hits.”
After playing in the Select Six Tournament in East Bridgewater, Mass. Wednesday through Sunday, the Junior Americans take on the Long Island Tigers Monday in a key matchup at Mount St. Michael. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.
Bayside 16-9, Old Westbury Wolves 6-6. Graziano picked up the win for the Yankees, allowing one run in 6.1 innings of relief in the front end of a doubleheader Sunday at SUNY-Old Westbury. Vernaci went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, Bayside resident Kevin O’Neill from Holy Cross was 4-for-5 with five RBIs and Estevez went 3-for-4 for the Yankees, who rallied from a 5-0 first-inning deficit.
In the second game the Yankees fell behind 3-0 after one inning but again rallied to win as Vernaci went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, Baxter broke a 6-6 tie with a double in the fifth inning. He also tripled. Pat Fletcher picked up the win.
Bayside Yankees 4-8, Long Island Tides 3-3. In game one of the doubleheader, Maspeth’s Mark Foris, a junior at St. Francis Prep, had six strikeouts in six innings and Richard Moran picked up the save. Armenio provided the offensive punch with a two-run double as Bayside defeated the Tides, 4-3 at St. John’s University last Thursday.
Bellerose native and Molloy junior Anthony Vernaci went the distance in the nightcap with six strikeouts as the Yankees topped the Tides, 8-3. Baxter went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs and Cipolla went 4-for-7 with three RBIs on the afternoon.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
