East Hampton Baseball Looks To Stay In Playoff Hunt

Despite a 10-3 loss at Harborfields on Monday, dropping his team to 3-6 on the season, East Hampton baseball head coach Vinny Alversa thinks his team still has a shot at making the postseason. It just needs to start cleaning things up sooner rather than later.

The Bonackers are one of three teams in League IV with a 3-6 record. Four other teams are 6-3, as of Tuesday morning, and while three games may seem like a lot to make up, it can be done in a matter days, if things fall right.

“Right now, we just need to start piecing together some wins,” Alversa said. “The conference is wide open to me. You go into the season thinking some teams are unbeatable, and then you turn around and see they start losing games, and that’s what happens when you’re pitching four, sometimes five, games in a week. It all depends what matchups you get.

“But if we can string some along here and just stay focused, we have a group of guys who all get along so well, they’re in it for each other and it’s just a matter of keeping their focus and not getting too high or too low.”

East Hampton won a wild game late Saturday morning at home over Half Hollow Hills West. Bonac took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning only to see the Colts tie it up in the second. Bonac then regained the lead, 5-2, in the third, only to see Hills West tie it back up in the fifth. Hills West then took a one-run lead in the top of the seventh, only to see East Hampton tie it in the bottom half to force extra innings.

The Colts scored a run in the top of the eighth to take a 6-5 lead, but East Hampton had the last answer. Avery Siska doubled to left field, then Nico Horan-Puglia reached on a bunt single that Siska reached third on. Charlie Condon was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and after Drew Salamy hit into a force out at home plate, Colin Ruddy singled to center field to drive in Horan-Puglia with the tying run. Carter Dickinson then hit a sacrifice fly to right field bringing in Condon with the winning run.

Alversa said he liked what he saw from his team in that it stayed focused even though the team’s ace, Ruddy, didn’t necessarily have his best stuff on the mound.

“There’s no quit in these guys,” he said. “It’s a really good group.”

East Hampton was scheduled to play at Kings Park on Wednesday and then host Rocky Point on Thursday, May 27, at 4:30 p.m. before playing at Westhampton Beach this Monday, Memorial Day, at 9:30 a.m.