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Lucas Hubner Dominates as Smithtown East Improves to 9-1

by Trevor Dugan

Smithtown East defeated North Babylon,10-3, Monday in Game 1 of their three-game series. The Bulls dominated from start to finish, riding a stellar performance by starting pitcher Lucas Hubner to victory. 

Hubner, a junior committed to Dartmouth University, had his best stuff Monday, striking out six batters over his first two innings. Relying heavily on his high octane fastball, he finished with 10 strikeouts over 4.0 innings pitched, allowing just one run on two hits. 

“My gameplan from the start was to attack hitters,” Hubner said after the game. “I was trying to get ahead in the count, and I was able to locate my fastball and throw it by them frequently.” 

Hubner enjoyed plenty of run support from his offense, taking some pressure off of the junior SP.

Smithtown East drew back-to-back walks to begin the game, and both runners scored on an RBI single by cleanup hitter Sean Gaine, giving the Bulls an early 2-0 lead. Their lead stretched to 3-0 in the top of the second, when Nicholas Piccoli doubled to left field and came around to score on a passed ball. 

The Smithtown East defense didn’t lift a finger over the first two innings as Hubner racked up six strikeouts, allowing just two baserunners on a walk and HBP. It wasn’t until the bottom of the third that North Babylon put a ball into play against Hubner, a flyout to left field. 

Leading 3-0 in the top of the fourth, Smithtown East added to their lead when first baseman Sean Gaine ripped an RBI double to drive in two more runs, bringing his RBI total to four on the day. One more run came across in the inning on an RBI single by Christian Gobbi, pushing the Bulls’ lead to 6-0. 

North Babylon got to Hubner for their first run of the day in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on a bases loaded HBP with two outs to trim the lead to 6-1. Hubner ended the inning, and his start, with his tenth strikeout of the day.

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North Babylon inched closer in the bottom of the fifth when third baseman Jake Walsh roped an RBI single into left field off of Smithtown East relief pitcher Justin Famighetti, cutting the Bulls’ lead to 6-2, but once again they would have to settle for just one run in the inning. 

Smithtown East scored four more runs over the last two innings, three of which scored on errors, pushing their lead to 10-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh. 

North Babylon mustered one final run in the bottom of the seventh, scoring on a bases loaded walk, but the rally stopped there as Piccoli came in from center field to take the mound and finish things off, earning the Bulls a 10-3 victory. 

With 10 runs on Monday, Smithtown East has now scored 52 runs in their last four games. Assistant coach Logan Hutter attributes that to a team-first mindset. 

“They’ve been working more towards at-bats that help the team, and building off of each other as opposed to wanting it to be their moment,” Hutter said. “Their mentality has been, ‘pass the torch and let’s see what we can string together.’” 

After his 10 strikeout performance, Hubner received GameChanger player of the game honors.

“From when he first started with us as a freshman, Lucas has grown by light years,” Smithtown East head coach Rob Christensen said of Hubner. “He has great command of his pitches, he’s been working on his changeup, and he still has a lot of untapped potential as he develops as a pitcher.”

Now 9-1 in Suffolk League III play, Smithtown East looks to take a 2-0 series lead over North Babylon at home on Wednesday, April 29. 

With the loss, North Babylon falls to 6-7 in league play.