Aaron Schiavoni's sac fly gives Pierson-Bridgehampton L.I. Class C title
The Pierson/Bridgehampton baseball team poses for a picture after winning the Class C final against Friends Academy on Friday, June 6, 2014. Credit: George A. Faella
Johnny Chisholm led off with a walk and two batters later, Aaron Schiavoni brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
That was it for Pierson-Bridgehampton. One run on no hits in the Long Island Class C final / Southeast Regional semifinal Friday at Dowling Sports Complex in Shirley.
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Johnny Chisholm led off with a walk and two batters later, Aaron Schiavoni brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
That was it for Pierson-Bridgehampton. One run on no hits in the Long Island Class C final / Southeast Regional semifinal Friday at Dowling Sports Complex in Shirley.
The Whalers won, 1-0, despite getting no-hit by Friends Academy ace Matt Feinstein.
"The only thing I can say is there's room for improvement," said Feinstein, who started for the first time after sitting out last month with a broken left hand. "I could have held them maybe. They played some smart baseball."
When asked if he thought that one run would hold up, Chisholm said: "No way. Because my team can hit. I didn't expect to win on a no-hitter. It really proves that our defense can get the job done when the bats aren't working."
Pierson-Bridgehampton (14-3) did as such behind its own righthander, Nick Kruel, who pitched a five-hitter, allowing two walks.
It sets up a date with Haldane for the Whalers in the regional final at 5 p.m. Saturday at Dowling Sports Complex.
"I tried to stay consistent," Kruel said. "I was able to keep command of my fastball and mixed in the knuckleball for strikes. I had the confidence that if they put it in play, my defense would make the plays."
The closest the Quakers (7-12) came to pushing a run across was in the fourth and fifth innings. In each inning, Friends Academy had a runner on third, but couldn't bring in the tying run.
Whalers shortstop Forrest Loesch started a pretty 6-3-2 double play to get Kruel out of trouble in what could have been the turning point for the Quakers in the fifth.
"A couple of baserunning mistakes at certain times didn't help," Friends Academy coach Mike Damm said. "Those are the little things that can catch up to you."
Feinstein retired the next nine batters after Schiavoni's sacrifice fly, before Loesch reached on an infield error with two outs in the fourth.
Kruel called it a "fantastic" performance by his counterpart, who struck out six and walked two.
"Definitely props to him," Kruel said. "He mixed it up well. In the end, it came down to smart baseball."
Which Chisholm and Schiavoni helped start.
"When Johnny gets on, it sets it up for me to do something," Schiavoni said. "I got a curveball that was left up and I was able to get a good piece of it. It happened to be enough to get the job done."
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