Cougars Baseball Stays Composed, Shuts Down Freeport, 10-9

After two tough and disappointing losses to Carey, the Kennedy baseball team needed to come out strong yesterday against Freeport.

With the defeats in the back of their minds and the umpire's missed call Tuesday still looming, they came out strong and pitched and hit their way into the win column. Kennedy's persistent batters battled in the back of the seventh inning to take a huge win 10-9.

The first three innings were key for the Cougars, as they knew they needed to strike hard and early because of Freeport's strong line up. Starting pitcher Andrew Wood played very well, only allowing one run in his first three innings. Strong base-running and clutch hits by Joseph Gallito, Justin Gutterman, Brandon Serota and John Rosse led to a four-run third inning to giveWood and hit squad the lead. 

Freeport used its strong bats and battled back against Wood, who gave up four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Freeport's spirits were back in the game after a two-inning scoring drought.

Kennedy went to its bullpen to try and relieve the stress from Wood. Matt Bruno came to the mound and sat the rest of the side down.

Kennedy's second baseman Lederman and first baseman Justin Gutterman helped the team score another two runs in the bottom of the inning to further themselves from their opponent. 

Matt Bruno pitched two-and-two-thirds scoreless innings to keep the Freeport Red Devils at bay. Shortstop Noah Shulman had a spectacular back-handed grab and throw to the plate for an out at first. 

The top of the seventh inning was a bit scary, as a missed double play by the umpire had the benches and fans in an uproar. 

Matt Garber came into the game to try and close out the Freeport side, but saw some trouble after the bad call and allowed three runs to allow the Red Devils back into the game.

The Cougars fought hard in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases off of walks, sac hits and a huge infield hit by Dan Loiacono to score the winning run and beat Freeport 10-9.

Kennedy coach Eric Passman seemed pleased with his boys win, as he was all smiles and commented, "I liked the way we played and most importantly we finished strong."

Kennedy battles Freeport again next May 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Freeport's Cleveland Avenue Field.