Kennedy Sloshes to Wild 10-9 Win Over Mepham

Playing in weather more suitable for football than baseball, Kennedy scored twice in the fourth inning and four more times in the fifth and held on for a rain-shortened 10-9 victory over Mepham in an unusual night game at the Farmingdale State University baseball stadium on Friday.

Despite having more errors (eight) than hits (seven), the Cougars moved back above .500 at 4-3 while winning the season series with the rival Pirates, 2-1. Mepham has dropped three of its last four games to fall to 2-5.

Kennedy trailed 8-4 heading into the top of the fourth, but Brandon Serota reached on an error by third baseman Dom Manzella and Robert Delgado singled to start the frame. After a sacrifice bunt, shortstop Noah Shulman lined a single to right to score both runners and halve the deficit.

The Cougars loaded the bases with one out in the decisive fifth inning on John Rosse's single and walks by Evan Krohn and Serota. Losing pitcher Matt Marmo then hit Robert Delgado to force in a run that made it 8-7 and David Leiderman greeted new relief pitcher Nick White with the game-tying single to center.

White got Shulman to fly out to shallow left field, but walked Frank Leavey to give Kennedy its first lead since the second inning and threw a wild pitch to plate Delgado to score what would later prove to be the winning run.

Mepham got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch by winning pitcher Andrew Wood and loaded the bases later in the inning, but Angelo Messina lined out to the short to end the threat. It would also turn out to be the last out of the game as the umpires called it moments later due to the rain.

"The umpire said it was getting too wet and the balls were slippery and even the turf was getting slippery," Kennedy coach Eric Passman said. "The umpires were afraid somebody would get hurt by the ball. The pitchers couldn't grip it."

Wood pitched two hitless innings and struck out three, but walked three batters in the fifth inning before getting out of the jam with minimal damage. Passman was just as impressed with reliever Dan Loiacono, who was pressed into relief after starter Michael Luft was hit on the arm with a line drive in the second inning.

"(Wood) did well, but I thought (Loiacono) was pretty good," he said. "He could only go two innings and he was at his limit, so we had to take him out."

Mepham starting pitcher Greg Mannix retired the side in order in the top of the first inning and the Pirates scored first in the bottom of the frame on Steve Luczaj's two-out, two-run triple. But the Cougars knocked out Mannix out of the game with four runs in the second inning, highlighted by a sacrifice fly by Krohn and Serota's RBI double.

Kennedy committed its first two errors in the second and third innings, which helped Mepham answer with four runs of its own and gave them an 8-4 cushion.

"The kids aren't used to playing at night under the lights," Passman said. "They're usually pretty reliable and it was just fly balls that they missed."

Kennedy will face Baldwin in a two-game series Monday and Tuesday, while Mepham will take on Freeport on those same days.

Download the movie

Download the movie

Download the movie