By PAUL GOTHAM
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — A sixth-inning rally was not enough.
No-hit through five innings, Victor took a one run lead before losing in extra innings on Friday.
“They just never had any quit in them,” Victor head coach Sean Rucker said of his squad after a 4-3 loss in eight innings to Hauppauge of Section XI in the NYSPHSAA Class AA semifinals at SUNY Binghamton. “They (Hauppauge) were a great hitting team, tip my cap to them. It was a battle. We didn’t expect anything less in the state semifinals.”
John Schwartz connected on a two-out, two-run double to give Victor (20-6) a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning.
Trailing 2-0, Nick Kriegelstein started the scoring for Victor with a one-out single that brought home pinch-runner, Zach Worrall.
One out later, John Schwartz doubled off the base of the fence in right field. Kriegelstein and Mitchell Schalberg scored on the play to give Victor its only lead of the game.
“Johnny came up big with runners on,” Rucker said. “I thought we had enough.”
Hauppauge starter Matt Neglia was in command through the first five innings. The senior right-hander retired the first seven he faced before issuing a one-out walk in the third. He set down the next seven to come to the plate.
“They were working us away,” Rucker said. “Their kid had good off-speed stuff.”
Andrew Stagnitto, who worked the third-inning walk, was the first Victor batter to connect for a hit – a leadoff single. The Victor catcher gave way to Worrall as a pinch runner.
“We battled into the counts and finally we broke through,” Rucker said. “We had a few too many strikeouts early. We saw him a couple extra times and were able to adjust and put it in play.”
Hauppauge’s Kyle Magill finished 3-for-3 with an RBI sacrifice fly. The ninth-grade outfielder tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out single that brought home Neglia.
“It’s what we do,” Hauppauge head coach Josh Gutes said of his team’s comeback. “We never give up. We never quit.
“We’re never out of a game. It wasn’t ideal to give up three there especially with the no-hitter going. As soon as that happened , we knew we had six outs left and one base runner to get it back to the top of our order.”
Magill delivered again in the eighth with a two-out base hit to right center. Neglia came home with the walk-off single.
“He is mature and poised behind his years,” Gutes said of Magill. “Even though he’s a freshman, everybody on the team is okay with him in that spot.”
Neglia reached on an error to start the eighth when a high throw to first forced Schwartz to jump. It appeared the junior first baseman had his foot on the bag in time to make the play. Rucker immediately left the dugout to contest the call. The umpires met on the field, but no change was made.
After a sacrifice and stolen base, Neglia was 90 feet away from home.
“A call that didn’t go our way hurt us,” Rucker said. “I’m real proud of our kids for where we’ve come from. We built up our team. We were right there”
Hauppauge (22-4) had a run erased in the fourth when a player missed the bag at third on a Michael Oliveto RBI double.
After throwing complete games in the Section V championship and then the state quarterfinals, Victor starter Weston Elkovitch went five and a third innings.
“Weston has been our horse in this playoff stretch,” Rucker said. “He was good tonight, but the team we played out there, they were a good hitting team. Some guys in the bottom of their lineup came up clutch for them.”
Victor was making its sixth final four appearance in program history.
Hauppauge will play Bethlehem (II) in Saturday’s championship game. A 4 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Mirabito Stadium.
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