East Baseball Eliminated From Playoff Contention

Sachem East’s baseball season will end without a playoff appearance as a 3-2 loss to William Floyd Friday afternoon makes them officially eliminated from post-season contention.

Floyd needs to win Saturday to clinch a playoff spot, so Sachem will look to reverse the hard luck on their League I counterparts.

The game was a tight one as both starting pitchers, Dean Papakonstantis for Sachem East and Cameron Sorgie for William Floyd, kept the bats quiet for a majority of the contest.

After a scoreless four innings, William Floyd broke through with a three-run fifth inning, which included a two-run double by Jonathan Martinez, to break the game open and give them a lead that they would never relinquish.

“It’s tough to swallow,” said Sachem coach Kevin Schnupp. “Whether it’s in the playoffs, whether it’s early in the season, when you get knocked out, it’s always tough to swallow.”

Sachem (8-9) had some opportunities to open the scoring and to come back from the deficit, which could have changed the complexion of the game completely.

In the second inning, Sachem's Brendan Jones was called out for leaning into a pitch instead of taking first base with a hit-by-pitch ruling. If that call had gone the other way, Sachem would have had the bases loaded with one out and a prime opportunity to take an early lead in the game. Instead that was the second out and William Floyd wound up getting out of the inning with no runs on the board.

Another opportunity came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Down 3-1, Sachem’s Anthony Telesca singled to right field with runners on second and third. The runner on third base scored, but the trailing runner was thrown out at home after William Floyd’s Argileo Camuy made a strong throw to prevent the tying run from scoring.  

“It really comes down to a game of inches,” Schnupp said. “We just felt a little snake bit and we just couldn’t get a [win].”

The loss is especially disappointing for the seniors at Sachem, as this was their last chance to play in the playoffs before they graduate and move onto college.

“It was tough, it was emotional. I had to hold back the tears,” said Papakonstantis, who pitched all seven innings in the game, finishing with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Both teams played the first game of the series on Monday, but had to wait as rain hampered the final week of spring sports on Long Island. Sorgie, who pitched his second no-hitter of the season against Sachem earlier in the week, pitched again Friday, earning the win.

Floyd called off playing Thursday at its field in Mastic, which ultimately gave Sorgie an extra day of rest and allowed him to pitch.

Sachem, who started the season 1-6, is 8-9 overall this year and made a remarkable run during the second half of the season, going 7-1 at one point prior to losing the two games to Floyd.

Chris R. Vaccaro contributed to this story.