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Tyler O’Neill and JT Raab Go Toe-To-Toe in Thriller, Mepham Wins 3-1 in Extras

They’ll be talking about this one for years to come.

I knew this would be a great pitching match up between two of Long Island’s best pitchers in Stony Brook-commit JT Raab and Bucknell-commit Tyler O’Neill, but somehow the actual game exceeded even the loftiest of expectations.

MacArthur and Mepham are two of the top teams in Nassau County entering 2021 and they proved it today, in an unbelievable pitcher’s duel that resulted in a 3-1 victory in 9 innings for the Pirates with the go-ahead run scoring on a safety squeeze with the bases loaded executed by Jack Hellerer to score Billy Kender – who led off with a two-strike double against Raab (more on him in a bit).

In the top of the first inning, JT Raab took the mound and was lights-out, striking out the first two batters he faced on a curveball and a changeup before inducing a ground out to third to end the inning. His fastball topped at 90 MPH. Watching him pitch, it’s reminiscent of a young Noah Syndergaard. they both stand 6’5 and have the same arm action. They even bear a striking resemblance. In any event, it was a prelude of what was to come.

In the home half of the first, O’Neill took the mound and immediately ran into trouble as sophomore James Eden crushed a leadoff double to center. It was a great piece of hitting – he appeared to just stick the bat out but it jumped off his bat into the gap for an extra-base hit, JT Raab came up next and helped himself with an RBI double to right center field to give MacArthur a 1-0 lead.

O’Neill is not the type of pitcher that typically gets barreled up often so it did come as a bit of a surprise that the first two batters were able to square baseballs up. What was more important, though, was how he responded. The Bucknell-commit absolutely took his game to another level from that point on. He induced a ground out back to the mound and was able to get the force at third. He escaped the jam by inducing a 1-6-3 inning ending twin killing to get his team back in the dugout.

Both pitchers got into a zone for the next several innings that can only be described as mesmerizing. Both of these pitchers cleared came into the season with a goal of winning the Diamond Award and winning a conference championship and they had that assassin’s mentality that the great ones have.

Raab sent the side down in order in the second and third innings, striking out five of the six batters he faced.

O’Neill set the side down in order in the second inning with a strikeout but ran into two-out trouble in the third inning. Raab beat out an infield single – an impressive feat for a pitcher – and then advanced on a single to center by cleanup hitter Matt Sarni. He escaped the jam with a strikeout of Finn Duffy to end the inning.

In the fourth, Mepham got a base runner on an errant throw by the shortstop to give them a one-out baserunner but it didn’t matter as Raab struck out the next two batters to bring his total to 9.

O’Neill struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth as he was now hitting his stride. He showed a ton of emotion on the mound which seemed to at least help his team stay in the game mentally.

It paid off, as Jack Davilla led off the fifth inning with a triple to center field. It was shocking, considering Raab had been stellar to that point and had been carrying a no-hitter. After a strikeout, TJ Coyne hit an RBI ground out to third to tie the game up. It was significant, as it showed that Raab was mortal and it appeared the momentum was shifting. Raab did finish the inning with another strikeout, his 11th of the afternoon.

Anthony Vaughan hit a one-out single for the Generals in the bottom of the fifth but James Eden bounced back to the mound and Raab grounded out to short, although it was a hard-hit ball.

Back out for the sixth, Raab appeared to take that triple personally as he struck out the side against the top of the order to give him 14 Ks on the day.

MacArthur had some life in the sixth as Mike Randazzo singled with one out and advanced on a wild pitch O’Neill was undeterred and fired another zero.

Two more strikeouts in the seventh brought Raab’s total to 16 in six innings, but O’Neill was equal to the task with a 1-2-3 home half of the seventh to keep the score locked.

Once again, the pitchers traded zeros in the eighth inning and Raab brought his total to 18 on the day. O’Neill hit the pitch-limit of 105 and was taken out in favor of Billy Kender who induced an inning-ending popout to short.

Things got interesting in the 9th. Raab went back out against the top of the order. He got to two-strikes on Kender, but the Bucknell-commit squared one up and put it over the CF’s head for a leadoff double. The next batter, Leo Asta, hit an infield single to shortstop to move Kender to third. It was a good job by the SS to keep the ball on the infield and let Raab have a chance to get himself out of it. He struck out the next batter, which brought his total to a ridiculous 19 for the day.

O’Neill re-entered as a pinch-hitter and bunted for a single to load the bases with one out. The next batter, Jack Hellerer, dropped down a perfect safety squeeze. Raab charged hard and had an opportunity if he made a perfect play, but he couldn’t find the handle and the go-ahead run scored. Now at his pitch limit, he was taken out. The reliever hit the next batter to bring in another run and make it 3-1.

Kender went back out for the 9th and did his job perfectly – throwing a 1-2-3 inning with the final out coming on a line drive back to the mound in which he made a great leaping play.

It was an absolutely magnificent game between two great teams. I suspect both will be teams to monitor this season – especially with those two arms atop their respective rotations.

Just an amazing game and it’s truly a shame that Raab had to get tagged with that loss. O’Neill did not factor in the decision, as Kender was able to grab the win in relief but O’Neill was equally masterful. He struck out 10, allowed six hits and just the one run in the first inning over 7.2 IP.