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The South Shore Clippers earned the top seed for the 2022 HCBL postseason with a doubleheader sweep of the Riverhead Tomcats on Friday.

 

The Clippers took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning of Game 1. Jack Peluso (Creighton) got an RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Colin Shashaty (Ithaca) would bring in another two runs on a single.

 

Riverhead tied the score with a three-run inning of their own in the bottom of the first. Jason Shockley drove in two runs for the Tomcats on a base hit and then Quinn Rooks (Brown) took a walk with the bases loaded that tied the game at 3-3.

 

The game would remain deadlocked until the top of the seventh when Peluso hit an RBI double that scored Dominic Camera (George Washington). South Shore added another run in the seventh on a double steal that scored Peluso.

 

John Rizzo (Adelphi) pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh clinching the top seed for the Clippers in the playoffs. Ryan Hynes (Molloy) earned the win for South Shore in the first game.

 

The nightcap saw South Shore, like in the first game, take an early lead when Camera hit a two-run double that gave the Clippers a 2-0 lead.

 

Riverhead would get a run in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Jacob Sloss (UMass) to cut the score to 2-1.

 

The Clippers would get the two-run lead back in the top of the fifth when Ryan Ferremi (Albany) hit an RBI single making the score 3-1.

 

The Tomcats would score a run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBi single from Ty Orologio (Ulster CC) however, Riverhead would leave the tying and go-ahead runs on base to end the inning.

 

Frankie Murphy (Vassar) who started for the Clippers on the mound came back out for the seventh looking for the complete game.

 

After allowing a double to Ethan Aube (Norwich) with one out, Murphy retired the next two batters to end the game and get the complete game win.

 

With the doubleheader sweep and Shelter Island and North Fork’s wins, Riverhead is eliminated from the playoff picture. 

 

The Tomcats will play their final two games of the regular season on Saturday when they play the Southampton Breakers at 2 PM followed by a game against the Shelter Island Bucks at around 4:30 PM. Both games will be played in Calverton.

 

South Shore plays their regular season finale at 1 PM on Saturday against the North Fork Ospreys at Cochran Park in Peconic.