Sports

Baseball: Carver doesn’t like what he sees in loss

Southold's starting pitcher, Alex Poliwoda, allowed one earned run and five hits over five innings against Hampton Bays. (Credit: Daniel De Mato)
Southold’s starting pitcher, Alex Poliwoda, allowed one earned run and five hits over five innings against Hampton Bays. (Credit: Daniel De Mato)

BAYMEN 6, FIRST SETTLERS 1

The gloomy, overcast day matched Mike Carver’s mood on Friday.

Carver was convinced of two things in the aftermath of his Southold baseball team’s non-league game at Hampton Bays High School: His team deserved to lose, which it did, and his team can play better.

Two games into the new season may not be enough material to form a complete judgment about a team, but Carver clearly wasn’t happy with what he saw Friday. Following Southold’s 6-1 loss, he held a lengthy team meeting in the dugout with his players.

Undoubtedly, he could not have liked the five errors the First Settlers committed, nor the five runs they gave up in the fifth and sixth innings, nor the fact that three of those runs were unearned.

The game zipped along, as did Hampton Bays’ pitcher, Ryan Schultheis. Schultheis did not allow an earned run over the full seven innings, which took 1 hour 45 minutes to complete. The senior left-hander gave up five hits, striking out five and walking one.

Run-scoring singles by Billy Dzanou and Tanner Troyan snapped a 1-1 tie for Hampton Bays (2-0) in the fifth inning.

But it was in the sixth when the wheels really starting coming off for Southold (0-2). Two errors extended that inning. Ryan Cavanaugh doubled in one run, Schultheis singled in another, and Cavanaugh raced home on a fielding miscue.

It was a tight, scoreless game through the first three innings before Hampton Bays put up the game’s first run in the fourth. Dzanou delivered a well-struck double to right field, later scoring on a groundout by Troyan.

That lead was short-lived, though. Southold evened the score the following inning when Shayne Johnson looped a two-out single, bringing home Sean Moran, who had reached base on an error.

Alex Poliwoda pitched the first five innings for Southold before making way for Dylan Clausen. Poliwoda allowed five hits and one earned run.

Johnson and Anthony Fedele each had two hits and a stolen base for the First Settlers.

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