McClure's clutch triple sparks East Rockaway

Dylan Giliberti stood breathless, smiling widely and infectiously after East Rockaway's season-saving win Wednesday. David McClure, by contrast, looked happy, sated and calm.

Guess the rookie, but prepare to be fooled.

Steeling himself against his nerves, McClure, a freshman, smacked a run-scoring triple to the base of the wall in rightfield to give the Rocks a one-run lead in the seventh, as East Rockaway took Game 2 of the Class C championship against Friends Academy (7-12). The Rocks scored four more times in the inning by capitalizing on a medley of Quaker miscues to win, 10-6, at Farmingdale State College.

Game 3 is Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Farmingdale.

"I was very nervous," McClure said. "I zoned out. I'm thinking, 'regroup' . . . keep the dream alive."

The Rocks were in a hard place as early as the third inning. No. 1 East Rockaway (9-11) faced elimination in the best-of-three series after Friends took Tuesday's Game 1, 11-6. The Quakers, seeded second, scored two runs in the second and two more in the fourth behind Sam Harrington and Chris Crowley's RBI hits. Up 4-0, Friends starter Peter Kaplan shut down East Rockaway at a steady clip, allowing only one run until the sixth.

East Rockaway scored four runs, two earned, as the Quaker defense dismantled. Friends made three errors, partially cashed in by McClure. With two on and no out, McClure singled to score Joe DelGais and Brian Lantz to cut the deficit to 4-2. Andrew Bashford reached on an error and Giliberti was hit by a pitch to put the tying runs on. Both came in to score when a ball off the bat of Mike Breidenbach was mishandled at second base.

After McClure's hit in the seventh, Bashford and Giliberti followed with RBI hits. A passed ball and a misplay on a play at the plate put the game out of reach.

"I thought it was over [before the sixth]," Giliberti said. "We just didn't want the season to end. I'm still in shock."

That shock didn't register on the mound. Giliberti shut down Friends in the fourth, retiring the side. Despite not having his best curve, he used his fastball and mixed his pitches to great effect.

"They touched him up a little," East Rockaway coach Dan Vito said. "But these guys never went down; he really hung in there."