Bottom 3: AJ Vurchio rips a 2-out, 2-run double to extend Sachem East’s lead to 5-0 pic.twitter.com/AxM1n0Isjf
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 20, 2025
Whatever was said during that team meeting worked.
Back in mid April, Sachem East lost to Connetquot, 10-9, to finish off a sweep and fall to 1-5 on the season. Since that point, they’ve been flawless. They went on to sweep Bay Shore, Ward Melville, Commack and Lindenhurst to end the regular season. Playing as the No. 5 seed against No. 12 Riverhead, they continued their incredible play with an 11-4 win to move onto the winner’s bracket.
“We started the season against two very talented teams in the first week vs Sachem North and off our bye vs Connetquot,” said head coach Kevin Schnupp. “The players continued to work hard everyday and believe in what we are doing and figured it out a little but. So we just work on one game at a time. Plus a ton of team leadership emerged.”
The Arrows were relentless on offense. They scored early and often, building a 5-0 lead through three innings. With their ace, Iona-commit Jake King, on the mound it was more than enough.
King worked around a leadoff walk issued to Jason Davis in the top of the first. After a sac bunt, he struck out Brady Hubbard and induced a fly out to center to end the inning.
Ryan Margolis drew a leadoff walk and stole second. It was the first of 10 stolen bases by the Arrows on the day – which most of them leading to runs. After Joe Rondinella grounded out to shortstop, Ryan Lane ripped an RBI single to score Margolis to make it 1-0. Sachem East would load the bases, but Camden Wallace’s 33rd pitch of the inning was strike 3 on Frank Greco to end the inning.
King promptly went out and fired a 1-2-3 inning with three ground outs to get his team back in the dugout. That was a common trend in this game. If time of possession was a stat in baseball, Riverhead certainly held a sizable advantage as the home half of each inning was considerably longer than the top.
The Arrows’ leadoff batter, Aron Brown, ripped a single and stole second. Ryan Margolis drove him in with an RBI single. They added another run on an error by the shortstop to make it 3-0.
King erased a base runner issued on a hit by pitch with a 6-4-3 double play to end the third inning.
Speaking after the game, King said, “Get ahead with fastballs and let them hit,” in regards to how he was able to limit the opposition.
The arrows broke the game open in the bottom of the third inning. Chris Ragona led off with a walk and stole their 7th base of the game. After an out advanced him to third, Frank Greco drew a walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. AJ Vurchio cashed in with a two-run double right down the left field line to make it 5-0.
Troy Chichotky took over for Wallace in the fourth inning and he fired a scoreless inning which was the first inning they were held without a run. He worked around two walks.
In the fifth, with a no-hitter still in tact, King allowed a clean one-out single to Bryce Mackie. He notched two strikeouts, his third and fourth of the game, to escape any further trouble.
Sachem East batted around in the fifth inning, scoring six runs with RBI hits by Matt Toia and Frank Greco to put this one out of hand.
Riverhead scored one run in the sixth inning on a 5-3-5 double play that allowed Bryce Hubbard to score. They also scored three runs in the 7th inning on an infield single, bases loaded walk and a fielder’s choice.
With the victory, Sachem East ran their win streak to 13 games and it sets the stage for an All-Sachem match up on Wednesday against No. 4 Sachem North which will be at North. First pitch slated for 4pm.
Riverhead will face Newfield at home. Credit to Riverhead who reached the playoffs for the first time in a decade and won a combined five games over the previous two seasons.
