Peter Viscogliosi Clutch For Baseball Team

It's not every day someone batting in the ninth spot of the order becomes an offensive hero in a huge playoff game, but that is exactly what happened for the Huskies this weekend.

Harrison beat Rye on Friday and had little time to celebrate the victory as they had to turn around and play Tappan Zee Saturday afternoon in the next round of the playoffs.

In that game the Huskies received a huge effort from several players, especially Peter Viscogliosi.

In his three plate appearances Viscogliosi had a double in the second inning and a deep home run in the fifth. The Husky left fielder also scored twice and picked up three big RBIs.

"I am always confident in our team when we are batting, the guys always support the pitcher," said Harrison pitcher Goh Ogura. "Saturday there was something different about Pete and he came up big for us all game. He looked good in the field and great at the plate, we knew he was going to do something big."

Earlier in the year Viscogliosi went through a lengthy slump that has him batting below .140 for the season. But the junior played a superb defensive left field and proved to be a valuable weapon on the base paths.

During the season you could tell that Viscogliosi began pressing at the plate and that he was visibly frustrated during some stretches of the season. But Viscogliosi never took his problems from the plate to the outfield, as he hasn't committed an error all season.   

His slump got to be so bad offensively that the team took Viscogliosi out of the lineup a few times, but no one ever showed the Harrison coaching staff enough to take over the spot permanently. So the team decided to stick it out with the junior and he turned out to be the right choice come playoff time.

"We all know Pete had rough year," said Harrison captain Mike DeLacy. "But he continued to work hard and he always gave it 100 percent during games and in practice. It was only a matter of time before he was going to break out of the slump and make something happen."

Harrison won their first two games in the playoffs thanks in large part to Viscogliosi's efforts. 

"Early in the year I wasn't always comfortable at the plate," said Viscogliosi. "I know that I didn't have a great season offensively so it was really big for me to come up big in a sectional game. I feel like I may have redeemed myself a bit."

Harrison continues their playoff run at Pearl River on Tuesday at 4:30 for the right to play in the Section 1 championship game. If Viscogliosi performs the way he is capable of, the Huskies will be a hard team to beat.

Best of luck and continued success Peter Viscogliosi, Harrison Patch's athlete of the week for the week of May 23 to 29.