by John Sullivan
Vin Appice gets the huge final out for Dodgers Nation to strand the tying run at third and winning run at first. They win it 5-4 in a thriller! pic.twitter.com/Le6iaNQ6t4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 4, 2025
Monday night in East Islip was the perfect setting for a great baseball game, and that’s exactly what we got between Dodgers Nation Select and the New York Longhorns. The Longhorns came into the game in first place with just 1 loss in the league, while Dodgers Nation was a .500 team looking to pull off an upset.
The Longhorns started off the game hot. Tyler Roth threw a scoreless inning in the top half of the first, despite a two-out double from Nico Burriesci. The offense followed this up with a great inning that was started with a Brady Hunt one out single. With Hunt on first, Dean Geiger got into one and drove it over the centerfielder’s head for an RBI triple and an early 1-0 lead. After a Cole Paulsen walk and a strikeout for out number two, Paulsen stole second, and the throw down from the catcher allowed Geiger to score from third for a 2-0 lead.
With a 2-run cushion, Roth looked extremely comfortable on the mound for the Longhorns. In his second inning of work, he retired Dodgers Nation 1-2-3 on two pop outs and a strikeout. Dodgers Nation starting pitcher John Neumann responded with a quick inning of his own in the bottom half of the second. After Landon Burchard ripped a lead off single, Neumann showed off a great pickoff move and caught Burchard at first for an out. He then got two quick outs via the popout and groundout.
In the third, Roth continued to do his thing on the mound, blowing a fastball by the first two batters of the inning for consecutive strikeouts. Following a two out walk, Roth notched his third strikeout of the inning; this time he caught the batter looking at a fastball on the outside black. Roth then helped himself out in the bottom of the third when he ripped a 1-out single into left and stole second. After a Logan Ho fly out, Brady Hunt stepped up to the plate for the Longhorns and came up with a big RBI single to extend their lead. Hunt was caught stealing for the third out, but his team still took a 3-0 lead into the fourth.
Landon Burchard came in relief for the Longhorns in the fourth, and much like Roth did in his outing, Burchard got quick and easy outs in his first inning of work. He retired Dodgers Nation’s top 3 in the order 1-2-3 thanks to two fly outs and a strikeout. In the bottom of the fourth, the Longhorns continued to hit. Dean Geiger started the inning with a base hit, advanced to second on a stolen base, and moved up to third after a Micheal Fredericks groundout. With two outs, Burchard had the bat in his hands and he delivered, jumping all over a fastball for a single into left and an RBI. The Longhorns seemed to be coasting through 4, as they had a 4-0 lead and showed no signs of losing it.
But, anything can happen in baseball, and the top of the fifth inning proved that. Jackson Martin started the inning with a great at bat for a walk, and after a fly out, Vin Appice ripped a single to set up first and second. Longhorn pitcher Landon Burchard then got a huge strikeout for out number two, which brought Joe Connelly to the dish. In a high leverage situation, Connelly delivered, and in a big way. He took a fastball the other way into the gap, which resulted in a triple and two RBIs. Still down 4-2, Luke Buckley worked a walk to put the tying run on and John Neumann blooped one into center to score Connelly and advance Buckley to third. With first and third, Neumann took off for second attempting to steal it, and on the throw down from the catcher, Buckley came flying home and slid in safely to tie the game up at 4. After that play, Landon Burchard finally got the evasive third out of the inning to stop the bleeding via the strikeout.
Jackson Martin received the call from the bullpen to pitch the fifth inning for Dodgers Nation, and he did not disappoint. He started off his outing with two quick swinging strikeouts, and after a two-out single, he got his third strikeout on a perfect pitch on the outside corner.
Wow! Dodgers Nation takes the lead thanks to a two out throwing error from the second baseman. They now lead 5-4 and just need to secure three outs for the win pic.twitter.com/dNYyN0zE2Y
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 4, 2025
Due to the time limit, the sixth inning was the last, and Dodgers Nation knew they only had three outs to take the lead and potentially win the game. The inning got started with Jake Padinha jumping on a fastball, but unfortunately for him, it was right at the center fielder. With one out, Ryan Riggins smoked a fastball that beat the left fielder for a double and set up Riggins as the lead-taking run at second. After a passed ball allowed Riggins to advance to third, Nico Burriesci hit a ground ball to short, but Luke Lockery made a nice play to get Riggins at home. With two outs, Burriesci stole second, and Jackson Martin was at the plate, needing only a single. Martin didn’t get his single, as he hit a ground ball to second, but a bad throw allowed Bureisci to score for the lead! After a groundout back to the pitcher, Dodgers Nation was just three outs away from an upset with a 1-run lead.
Jackson Martin started the bottom of the sixth with a walk to Brady Hunt, and Hunt stole second to set up a tough spot for Martin with the heart of the order coming up and the tying run in scoring position. But, Martin was able to stay composed, and got a huge strikeout for out number one, and a groundout to second for out number two. With Hunt now on third, Martin issued a walk to Micheal Fredericks, and Dodgers Nation handed the ball over to Vin Appice to get the final out. Appice did his job perfectly and got a groundout to third on just the second pitch he threw to secure a massive 5-4 win for Dodgers Nation.
We were treated to a phenomenal game from start to finish on Monday night, and there’s no doubt it was an impressive team effort from Dodgers Nation to come back like they did. After the game, we spoke to Joe Connelly of Dodgers Nation, who discussed what it takes to comeback against a team like Longhorns and his approach at the plate on his big two RBI triple in the fifth.
