The Pierson and Bridgehampton High School baseball teams lost in close games to upstate opponents in Southeast Regional state playoff games Saturday, the Whalers, a Class C school, by a score of 3-1 to Burke Catholic of Goshen, and the Killer Bees, who are combined in baseball with the Ross School, by a score of 7-5 to the defending state Class D champion, Chapel Field Christian.
"We fought hard until the very end," Lou Liberatore, Bridgehampton-Ross's coach, said of the Bees' 7-5 southeast regional loss to Chapel Field Christian. "We had runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh before Alexi Kardaras struck out. It was their starting pitcher Mike Bonagura's 10th strikeout that day."
Kai Alversa, a sophomore who started for the Bees, giving up six runs and walking seven in four innings before giving way to Milo Tompkins, told Newsday's Ben Dickson afterward that the future of Killer Bee baseball was bright. "We're going to be even more hungry going into next year," he was quoted as saying.
Bridgehampton-Ross jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but, said Liberatore, "Chapel Field did what great teams do and battled back."
Alversa, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, drove in the Bees' fifth run in the fifth inning to bring Bridgehampton-Ross to within one, at 6-5, but that was to be it for Liberatore's team, which finished the season at 8-8.
Liberatore said that Tompkins, the team's captain and League VIII's most valuable player for the second year in a row, had batted .571 in the regular season, with an on-base percentage of .648, and added that Alversa, Tate Foard, and Shawn Gnyp had made the all-league team.
Bob Manning, Pierson's first-year coach, said of the Whalers' 3-1 loss to Burke Catholic, "Our starting pitcher, Braedon Mott, pitched well, giving up only a few hits. Burke Catholic scored all of its runs in the third inning, on a sac fly and two singles. They had a quality pitcher and our bats didn't come alive. We'd get runners on, but struggled to move them over. It was a hard-fought game against a good opponent. Nathan Dee struck out the side in the sixth to keep the game in reach. Brian Schroeder, a freshman, scored our lone run as a pinch-runner. Jeffrey Gregor, our sophomore catcher, who thwarted two attempted steals and who got on base twice, was our most valuable player."
Manning told Newsday's Mike Anderson that while he'd sorely miss his eight seniors, "we'll be ready to fill those gaps and try to get back here next year. . . . I'm excited about the future. Sad about this game, but I'm proud of them."
