Hills East Baseball Drops Rubber Match to Newfield

Amid a myriad of early mistakes and a dominating performance by Newfield starter Caleb Olesen, the Hills East baseball team dropped the rubber match of a three game series 7-3 under the lights of Friday night.

Newfield got off to a quick start with two runs in the first inning, the second of which was driven in on an RBI single by Tim Renahan. It was apparent early on that Hills East starter Steven Muraco was not sharp as a combination of wild pitches and passed balls helped Newfield move up on the bases.

“He was missing a couple of spots and the first inning he didn’t get his curveball down for a strike,” Thunderbirds head coach Tim Belz said. “Without that then he’s a fastball changeup pitcher and that’s it.”

Muraco got the first two outs in the second inning before allowing a single to Cory Vogeli. A Thunderbirds error followed by back-to-back singles by Newfield plated two more runs to put the Wolverines up for good.

“For the most part five runs or so is good enough for somebody like Caleb when he pitches,” Newfield head coach Paul Pedersen said. “But you always want to take advantage of mistakes.”

Muraco got into more trouble in the third as Newfield scored three more times. That was more than enough for Olesen.

“That’s a good pitcher we faced, he’s one of the top in the league,” Belz said of Olesen. “We gave them a seven run lead in the first three innings and we were just out of the game there.”

Olesen finished the game with 11 strikeouts.

“He was throwing the ball well, pretty consistent,” Pedersen said. “He had some good stuff tonight and his curveball was working and he was right around the plate and that made it nice for our fielders.”

The Thunderbirds did not give in though. Sophomore Stephen Woods came out of the bullpen to relieve Muraco and threw four spectacular innings, striking out seven and allowing only one hit.

“If he can throw like that next year he’s going to win six games,” Belz said. “If he throws like that consistently he’s going to be a dominating pitcher. He’s only a sophomore, he’s young. That’s the best outing we’ve seen from him all year.”

They put together a rally in the bottom the seventh that scored three runs but ultimately came up short.

The loss moved Newfield to 6-8 in league play. Hills East now stands at 3-8. The Thunderbirds open a three game set at Centereach on Monday at 4 p.m.