No-hitter for Kings Park's Haney? Yes and no
Kings Park pitcher Brandon Haney #18 is congratulated by his team after pitching Kings Park to a 1-0 victory. (May 6, 2010) Credit: Photo by GEORGE A. FAELLA
No-hitter or one-hit wonder? The Kings Park scorebook ruled it an error; the Islip book had it as a single. Nothing else came close to being a hit for Islip as Kings Park lefthander Brandon Haney went the distance in a 1-0 win yesterday, handing the Buccaneers their first Suffolk League V baseball loss.
The scorekeeping situation occurred in the bottom of the second on Stephen Provenzano's seemingly routine pop-up toward first base. When the wind carried the ball toward second, second baseman Shane O'Leary tried to chase it down but didn't touch it, and it landed on the outfield grass.
In the major leagues, it most likely would have been ruled a hit because it wasn't touched by a fielder.
"We marked it as an error at the time,'' Kings Park coach Mike Prisco said. "He ran past it and I don't think he touched it. He misjudged it. He should have caught it."
A similar play occurred in the fourth inning. With Matt Espinal on first base after a walk, R.J. Going hit a pop-up behind first. The wind played havoc again and the ball dropped in, but O'Leary threw to shortstop Chris Kalousdian covering second for a forceout.
Haney issued two walks and struck out four for Kings Park (10-5, 10-5), which clinched a playoff berth. He induced two double plays, and after issuing a one-out walk in the seventh, he picked up two strikeouts - Ed Macaluso looking and Provenzano swinging - to end the game.
"I didn't even know it was a no-hitter until my coach told me,'' Haney said. "It's special, especially against Islip.''
He added, "I was pretty much throwing fastballs and changeups all game. We made some nice plays. My changeup kept them off balance. I tried to keep the ball low and get ground balls. It's really big. This gets us ready for the playoffs.''
The lone run came on the first pitch of the game by Islip righthander Edvardas Matusevicius. Kalousdian hit a home run over the right-centerfield fence.
"I was planning that out the whole day,'' Kalousdian said. "I knew he was going to throw me a first-pitch strike and I put my best swing on it. I knew he would try and get ahead and throw the fastball in there. I knew it was gone. I know the wind was blowing out, so I got some help from that.''
Matusevicius threw a six-hitter, allowed three walks and struck out nine for Islip (12-1, 11-1), the defending three-time Suffolk Class A county champion.
"He didn't have his best stuff,'' Islip coach Pete Blumenauer said. "He kept us in the game. We've had some luck this year and we didn't today.''
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Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
