Cody Miller excels in new role to boost Rocky Point
Rocky Point starting pitcher Cody Miller delivers the pitch to the plate during a Suffolk League V baseball game against Kings Park at the Medford Athletic Complex on Monday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Cody Miller has had an illustrious high school baseball career. The Rocky Point senior made the varsity team as a freshman, has played well enough as a shortstop and relief pitcher to garner a scholarship from East Tennessee State and, last season, was the only junior to make Newsday’s all-Long Island first team.
One thing he had not done? Appear as a starting pitcher. He finally got that shot on Monday and sparkled in the role. The righthanded Miller pitched six innings of scoreless ball and combined with Sean Hamilton on a five-hit shutout as the Eagles downed Kings Park for a 4-0 Suffolk V victory in a chilly mist and beneath the lights at the Town of Brookhaven’s Medford Athletic Complex.
As the team’s closer, Miller is used to getting the Eagles out of tight spots. So when Rocky Point coach Anthony Anzalone needed someone to step in for ill No. 1 starter Nic Benhardt, he asked his everyday star if he wanted the shot. “He said ‘absolutely,’” Anzalone said. “He’s our guy. He always comes through.”
“I wanted to make my first varsity start and I wanted to face a team that’s trying to take one from us,” Miller said. “Everyone wants a piece of us and I wanted to be the one that wouldn’t let that happen. I haven’t started because we’ve got a bunch of dudes on this team, but I wanted the chance.”
Miller is going to be a shortstop at ETSU and so this opportunity was one to savor. He used a hard breaking pitch to set up a crackling fastball and allowed four hits and five walks, striking out 10.
Dom Carbone had two hits and two RBIs and Miller and Hamilton each drove in runs for Rocky Point (13-2, 11-2). Vincenzo Buffalino was 3-for-3 and T.J. Scannevin was 2-for-3 for the Knights (8-6, 7-6), but their No. 2 through No. 8 hitters were 0-for-17.
The Eagles didn’t need help, but Kings Park gave them plenty. Starter Aidan Colagrande was gritty but finally allowed a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning. That’s sort of how it went as the Knights lost themselves in a symphony of errors, walks and passed balls.
AJ Aschettino singled to start the Eagles’ fifth, Miller followed by reaching on an error and both moved up on a passed ball. Carbone singled to center to drive in the game’s first run, but Miller was cut down at the plate on a great throw from leftfielder Owen Weber. Carbone moved up on the throw, took third on another passed ball and scored on Hamilton's sacrifice fly.
The Eagles added two runs in the sixth with Miller drawing a bases-loaded walk and Carbone providing a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
In a memorable career, this should be unforgettable for Miller.
“I didn’t even know how to warm up to start a game,” he said. “[Coach] had to take me through everything up to long toss and then explained how I’d have to hold some pitches back for the second and third time through the order. It was an education, but I loved it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
