Schuster Carries Patriot Baseball to Win Over Sachem

Adam Schuster made a clutch catch in Wednesday's 14-12 win.

His encore? How do two stolen bases, a three-run home run and extinguishing a late Sachem rally by inducing a game-ending double play for the save sound?

Ward Melville (2-1) defeated Sachem, thanks in large part to Schuster, for the second time in consecutive days, 7-3.

"That’s our goal, to win the series," said Patriots head coach Lou Petrucci. "The kids are playing great baseball. The key today was the tack-on runs."

Brandon Perkins pitched well in his first start at the varsity level, scattering six hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five.

"He pitched a great game today in his first varsity start," said Petrucci of Perkins. "He deserved [the complete game], he’s been on the varsity team for two years and he pitched great."

Perkins got into trouble in the seventh, however. After striking out C.J. Hafner to begin the inning, he allowed three consecutive hits and walked opposing starter Brian Castles.

"It was an exciting game," said Perkins. "I wanted the complete game, but I guess I got a little tired."

Petrucci called on Schuster to slam the door, and he did just that, getting the first batter he faced, Chris Kennedy, to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

"In the seventh, we were a little more selective up there," said Arrows head coach Kevin Schnupp. "Of course, he had thrown a lot of pitches, but we put better at-bats together."

Sachem (1-2) ran into trouble on defense in the fourth inning. Schnupp brought the infield in with runners on second and third and just one out.

Alex Morhaim hit a low line drive to the left of shortstop Chris Kennedy and under his glove. Two runs scored on the play, which pushed the Patriots' lead to 6-2.

"It was the little things," said Schnupp. "We were scratching early, but we just couldn’t get things rolling. A couple of errors in the field led to big innings for them, and the big three-run homer kind of took the air out of us a little bit."

Schuster's three run homer came in the bottom of the second inning, which gave Ward Melville a 4-2 lead.

"Adam’s a senior," said Petrucci. "He’s our best athlete without a doubt. He’s going to be an all-county player. That’s what he needs to do. He’s a threat to hit it out of any park."

"I was looking for that exact pitch," said Schuster. "Coach tells us on a 3-0 count to just envision the pitch you want to hit. It was right there and I just put a good swing on it."

"We didn’t put good at-bats together," said Schnupp. "We had a little more focus [in the seventh] and went up there with more of a plan. The pitcher went the distance, early in the season like this he did a great job. I just think that we should’ve been able to get to him a little earlier than we did."