Kennedy Baseball Drops Regular Season Finale, Host Playoff Game Tomorrow

Sometimes all is not lost with a loss.

With the playoffs set to start tomorrow, Kennedy used yesterday's regular season finale to give the bulk of the roster playing time.  The Cougars fell to Oceanside, 11-6, in a rematch of the previous day's game, won by Kennedy.

Coach Eric Passman gave Evan Krohn the start, and he was roughed up early.  Krohn gave up six runs in three innings of work.  A four-run Sailor second was capped off by a Chris Flynn two-run double.

Kennedy tried to keep pace early, as it appeared another high scoring would be in order, with the Cougars having edged out Oceanside 11-10 on Wednesday. First baseman Justin Gutterman stroked an RBI single in the third, bringing Kennedy to within 6-2.

However on this day, the Kennedy bats would be cooled off just enough.  Second baseman Mike Crispino, 3-for-3 the day before, flied out to right with the bases loaded in the fourth, ending the Cougars best chance for a rally.

Krohn gave way to Mike Luft, who was greeted by a Joe Totino home run.  Oceanside would put together another four-run inning in the fifth to essentially ice the game, on what was a chilly afternoon in Bellmore.

"The pitching was shaky, and Oceanside hit the ball really well,"  Passman said.

One bright spot for Kennedy was Jon Scharfman.  Called up from the JV team, Scharfman pitched the final two innings, allowing no runs while striking out four.

While Scharfman is part of the future, Kennedy made sure to honor its past and present as part of Senior Day.  Passman (and Oceanside, for that matter) emptied his bench, and overall made sure his seniors enjoyed their final regular season game in uniform.

"We put a lot of people in who are seniors and didn't get a lot of action [this year]," Passman said.  "We tried to get everybody playing time, but just didn't get it done."

Shortstop Noah Shulman had two hits for Kennedy, and Jordan Leopold had an RBI double, as Cougar players admitted they were looking ahead to the playoffs.

"I think we just tried to have fun today more than compete," Crispino said.  "We were just trying to prepare our pitchers for the postseason...more fun than serious."

The games turn serious again this weekend.  Kennedy is a 6-seed in the playoffs and will take on Herricks tomorrow at noon at Kennedy.  A win would setup a Tuesday showdown with the 2-seed, the Calhoun Colts.   

Passman may have given his team a pass yesterday, but says there's work to be done as the second season begins.

"We need to improve on defense, that's for sure," he said.  "We have one of the top pitchers in the county (Kevin Archbold) going, and we feel confident."

Hopefully confident enough to keep those seniors in uniform a whole lot longer.

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