Freddy Forgione was named MVP as Team Red came away with the 9-8 win. He went 2-for-2 with a 2-R HR and 2 runs scored @HamptonsLeague @MTimeBaseball pic.twitter.com/ASUbm8p3Oy
Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 7, 2022
It was an exciting day all-around on Wednesday for the HCBL All Star Game at Cochran Park in Peconic.
The festivities began with a HR Derby in which Tommy O’Connor captured the title with an impressive showing – hitting six bombs for the win. Later in the day, the stars aligned for the annual All-Star Game in which former Riverhead Tomcats player and current cop Jimmy Luppens threw out the first pitch in his uniform and appeared like he could be used in relief later in the day.
After a scoreless first inning, Sean Keys got the scoring going with a solo shot in the top of the second inning for Team Red. That lead did not last long, however, as Billy Kender hit a solo shot of his own to tie it up. Both players are coming off their freshmen seasons at Bucknell and both are Long Island natives.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kender scored again this time on a single by Matt Shuhet (4-for-5, 3 RBIs) to make it a 2-1 ballgame in favor of Team Gold. They actually appeared to have broken the game open in the fifth inning when they scored five times with only one coming on a hit and that was Shuhet again.
From that point on, it was all Team Red who scored four times in the seventh, three times in the eighth and once in the ninth to take a 9-8 lead. Freddy Forgione, the MVP of the game, had a huge 2-R HR to cut the deficit from 7-3 to 7-5 in the seventh inning which was a huge momentum swing. He went 2-for-2 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jacob Young came on for the save and he worked around a leadoff double by Tommy O’Connor and a one-out walk to Johnny Catuousco to seal the deal as the sun was going down.
Overall, it was an outstanding day of baseball celebrating a successful first-half of baseball in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League.