Pierson Baseball Clinches Playoff Spot With Win Over Hampton Bays, But Things Haven't Been Easy For The Whalers This Season

A 10-2 home victory over Hampton Bays on Friday afternoon clinched a Suffolk County Class C postseason berth, but the Whalers’ solid 9-3 record hasn’t been as easy to come by as in years past.

After losing two of three to Southold, Pierson lost the opening game of the series with the Baymen, 7-3, at home on April 19, and after jumping out to a 7-0 lead in game two of the series saw that lead evaporate with the Baymen taking an 8-7 lead before the Whalers scored five runs in the final two innings to come back and win, 12-8.

With a pivotal rubber game on Friday, and postseason berth on the line, the Whalers wanted to come out strong and did so, scoring a pair of runs to take an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. After a run-scoring triple by Patrick Donahue pulled Hampton Bays within a run in the third inning, Pierson scored a handful of runs in the third to break open the game, which was enough behind senior starting pitcher Reed Kelsey, who was solid.

After Friday’s victory, the Whalers admitted that this season is much different than last and opposing teams are coming for them.

“Definitely the atmosphere is different when teams are playing us,” junior catcher Gavin Gilbride said. “We were one game away from having an undefeated season last year. That really sets the bar high for us and really gives us something to aim for, but I think these teams are really seeing the best they can do against us. If they get a win you can tell how they celebrate it and everything. They know they have to aim for us.

“I think so,” Kelsey agreed. “We won counties last year against Southold and I think they really wanted to beat us. I personally definitely feel the games are more intense this year. They’ve been closer, but we just have to keep doing our best, trust each other in the field and at bat and do the best we can.”

Pierson head coach Jonathan Schwartz gave credit to a hardworking and scrappy Hampton Bays team for making things tough on his team throughout the three-game series, but said Friday’s game was a good response to the past few games and a necessary one.

“I think we were all extremely disappointed losing the first game here to a team that notoriously we’ve been able to handle,” he said. “Give their pitcher [Kazmin Pensa-Johnson] credit in the first game, he did a good job. He didn’t really walk anyone, he was just filling it up and we popped up all day. Can’t win games like that, but we responded well.”

Hampton Bays head coach Robert Pinney said his young team has the same issues it’s had in the recent past, and that’s giving up extra outs. The Baymen were 1-9 coming into Monday but had the league’s top three teams in Pierson, Southold and Port Jefferson to start the season and will be looking to add to their win column in the second half of their schedule, starting with Bridgehampton/Ross this week.

“I love the enthusiasm with them,” Pinney said of his players. “They’re young, like I said, only one senior starter, so the future is bright with them. They stay in it and they battle. That’s all I can ask for.”

Southold, Schwartz agreed, has certainly improved greatly from last season. It has a solid starting pitching rotation and the Settlers, after taking two of three from the Whalers, are a legitimate threat to Pierson’s county title. Port Jefferson, which is 6-1 as of Monday, appears to be as well. The Royals dropped down to League VIII from League VII and were a bit of an unknown because of that coming into the season. But they’ve added another level of competition, and being that they’re a “C” team as well, could have something to say about the county title as well.

Pierson and Port Jeff opened a three-game series on Monday in Sag Harbor, with game two having been played Tuesday and game three Saturday, both in Port Jeff. To the earlier point of teams targeting Pierson, Port Jeff spread out the games in such a way to be able to throw its ace twice in the series.

“That’s a challenge right to us,” Schwartz said. “I would want to beat us too, for many reasons. We’ve been atop this league for a while. They should all come at us, and they are, and they’re coming hard. We’ll see how we respond. We’ve got six [games] left, so you can’t worry about where you’re going to place at this point, you just have to play good baseball going into the playoffs. We know we’ll be there, but you got to get hot at the right time.”