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Orlin & Cohen Game of the Week: LI Fieldhouse’s Goodman Shines on Both Sides of the Ball as He Leads His Team to a 7-2 Victory Over Next Level

by John Sullivan

The Boys of Summer matchup between LI Fieldhouse and Next Level Baseball was one that featured two rosters with very high powered offenses with equally talented pitching. For the Fieldhouse, Danny Goodman took the mound. In the first, Goodman looked good, but Next Level’s small ball allowed them to get on the board first. After a lead off walk and a steal of second from Micheal Schwartz, Gianni Rizzuto put down a perfect sac bunt to move Schwartz to third. Goodman then forced the next batter to roll over to second, but an error from the second baseman allowed Schwartz to score for Next Level. Luckily for Goodman, he got the next two batters to pop out and strikeout, limiting Next Level’s lead to only 1-0.

Troy Vigilis got the start for Next Level. Unfortunately for him, the Fieldhouse offense came out hot in the bottom of the first. After Joey Goodman’s lead off walk, Eli Lowenstein, Aidan Bardi, and Brandon Lynn hit three singles in a row to score two runs. After the three singles, Danny Goodman stepped up to the plate and drove a fastball the other way over the left fielder’s head to give the Fieldhouse a 4-1 lead. Vigil was able to settle down though, as he retired the next three batters in a row to keep the score at 4-1 heading into the second.

After the highly eventful first inning, both offenses seemed to shut down and the pitchers took over the game. Danny Goodman retired the side in order in the second after getting a huge double play to end the inning. Goodman’s counterpart, Troy Vigilis, responded with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half of the second. The third inning was more of the same, as Goodman and Vigilis exchanged 1-2-3 innings to keep the score at 4-1 going into the fourth.

Despite two quick outs in the top of the fourth, the Next Level bats seemed to finally come alive when Andrew Heppner ripped a triple over the left fielder’s head, for Next Level’s first hit of the game. But, these hopes for Next Level were crushed quickly as Goodman induced a fly out to center on the first pitch of the next at bat. In the bottom of the fourth, Justin Babiak came in relief for Next Level and he fired a very quick 1-2-3 inning.

After finally notching their first hit in the fourth, Next Level’s offense seemed to have a lot more confidence at the plate in the fifth. Giancarlo Rengifo started the inning with a single and a stolen bae. The next batter popped out to center, but that didn’t stop Jack Bodkin from ripping a 1 out RBI single to make the score 4-2. The next batter, Aidan Medeiros smoked a line drive into left, but it was caught for the second out. This calmed down Goodman on the mound, as he struck the next batter out on only 4 pitches to end the inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Fieldhouse added some much needed insurance runs. After a single from Nick Storm and three walks, Lynn came through with a clutch two out two RBI single to extend Fieldhouse’s lead to 7-2.

After his clutch single at the plate, Lynn took the mound in relief to start the sixth inning for Fieldhouse. Lynn proved he is a more than capable two-way player after an easy 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. After a quiet bottom of the sixth for Fieldhouse, Lynn went out for the seventh and had another great inning on the mound, ending it on a perfectly placed fastball to win it 7-2 for Fieldhouse. 

Thanks to his great 5 inning performance on the mound and his big triple at the plate, Danny Goodman was named the Player of the Game. In his postgame interview, Goodman explained that all three of his pitches were working for him and his approach at the plate was to just look for a ball to drive the other way. Goodman’s approach clearly worked on both sides of the ball, as he was the key factor in Fieldhouse’s 7-2 victory over Next Level.