Island Trees-Division suspended in 7th

No lead has been safe in the Island Trees-Division matchups this season. It will take 22 hours to find out if a three-run edge in the seventh inning will be enough to send Division to the Nassau County baseball championship series.

With host No. 3 Division leading 8-5 Thursday in the deciding Game 3 of the Class A semifinals, the game was suspended because of lightning. George Balsamo was at bat with an 0-and-1 count, no outs and no runners on base for No. 4 Island Trees.

The game is scheduled to resume at that point at 4:45 p.m. today at Division. The winner will play top-seeded Wantagh in Game 1 of the best-of-three finals at 3 p.m. Monday at Farmingdale State.

Division starter Sean Abbate was still in the game in the seventh after escaping several jams. Abbate allowed two runs in the first inning on a single by Mike Manganiello.

Division scored four runs in the third to take a 5-2 lead. Mike Cruz scored from second base on a slow chopper to third base to tie the score at 2. Matt Li added an RBI single after an error extended the inning, and Greg Menz hit a two-run double to cap the scoring in the inning.

Abbate worked out of trouble in the fourth after allowing three singles to load the bases. He got a soft liner to second base and induced a 1-2-3 double play. Division added one run apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth, but Island Trees didn't go away.

The Bulldogs scored a run in the fifth, and Brandon Garcia cut the deficit to 7-5 with a two-run single in the sixth. Rob McNamara's sacrifice fly gave the Blue Dragons an 8-5 lead in the sixth.

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