Matt Hall helps make Pierson's win worth the wait

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. — The Pierson baseball team had ample time to prepare for its state Class C regional final matchup Saturday afternoon.

Three weeks to be exact.

The Whalers had their final regular season game May 17 against Babylon and hadn’t played since.

“That’s what I was most nervous about coming in,” Pierson head coach Jonathan Schwartz said. “I knew our ability, I knew we could win this game, but it’s very tough to keep anybody focused for that long without challenging yourself against another opponent. We tried to make things as competitive as possible in practice and scrimmaged each other almost every day.”

Pierson used the time off to its advantage, and defeated Tuckahoe, 5-2, behind a brilliant pitching performance by Matt Hall at Peter X. Finnerty Field at Pace University.

The Whalers (5-12) will play Cooperstown in the state semifinals at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 14 at Maine-Endwell High School.

Hall tossed an 83-pitch complete game and allowed six hits, two earned runs and no walks. He also had a two-out RBI single in the top of the third inning to drive in Harry Cowen and put Pierson ahead 2-1.

“I wanted to trust my fielders behind me. I was just trying to mix up my pitches and keep the hitters off-balance,” said Hall, who allowed a run in the first and fourth innings. “That hit in the third gave us some confidence and showed that we were capable of winning this game.”

Pierson was held hitless through the first two innings by Tuckahoe starter Mike Meyers, before breaking through in the third.

Freshman Daniel Labrozzi led off the inning with a walk and Cowen followed with a single. Christian Pantina, the ninth batter in the lineup, dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third.

In the ensuing at-bat, Nick Egbert grounded out to short with the infield back, driving in Labrozzi to tie the score at 1. The Whalers tacked on a run in the fourth before Tuckahoe (21-5) closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning. Pantina and Egbert each scored in the fifth to put the game out reach.

The Whalers competed in the Long Island Class C championship last year, but lost a heartbreaker to East Rockaway, making Saturday's win that much more gratifying.

“Getting to this position is great, especially being so close to this point last year,” Hall said. “It was definitely tough waiting around to play. We couldn’t scrimmage any other teams, no one was available. We had to scrimmage ourselves, call up guys from JV and got our work in that way.”