Lindenhurst-Longwood Suffolk Class AA final suspended

The rumble was loud and clear as was the decision of plate umpire Joe Grady, who waved the Longwood defense off the field in Lindenhurst as scattered thunderstorms approached the South Shore. With lightning in the distance and thunder heard overhead, Grady first called for a 30-minute delay, which is mandatory by state rule, then suspended the Suffolk Class AA baseball final Tuesday with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and Lindenhurst leading 5-2.

"We went over the rule before the game because there was a possibility of thunderstorms in the area,'' Lindenhurst coach Mike Canobbio said. "We were hoping the boys could bring home a county title before our awards banquet [last night]. We'll come back and try and get it done against a very good Longwood team.''

The game will be resumed with the Bulldogs' Dan DiBlasi batting and a runner on second at 4:15 Wednesday at Lindenhurst, which is unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament. If Longwood wins, it will force a winner-take-all game tomorrow for the title.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Lindenhurst sent 11 men to the plate and scored five times for a 5-1 lead. Ryan Manning, Steve Skon and James Briggs had run-scoring singles and Jon McGibbon and DiBlasi drew bases-loaded walks in the inning.

Longwood loaded the bases with none out in the fourth but came away with only one run on JJ Bessel's single to cut the deficit to 5-2.