Leyton Pulsipher's two-run double gets Center Moriches going in LI Class B title victory
Center Moriches celebrates its 8-3 victory to become the Long Island Class B baseball champions at Hofstra University on Friday, June 3, 2022. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Leyton Pulsipher had no doubt whatsoever.
As the Center Moriches baseball team prepared for this season, the premier shortstop/pitcher made his conviction clear. This group would lift the Long Island championship plaque in June.
On Friday night at Hofstra, Pulsipher delivered the early statement that helped transform his preseason guarantee into an electrifying reality.
Pulsipher, who is the son of former Mets pitcher Bill Pulsipher, opened the scoring with a two-run double and set the tone in a six-run top of the first, as Center Moriches defeated Wheatley, 8-3, in the Long Island Class B championship.
“I personally knew this was going to happen since the start of the season,” Pulsipher said. “I believed in these guys. I told them before the year started that we were going to do this, and we did it. Now we just have to keep going.”
Center Moriches (14-10) advances to the Class B state regionals to take on Spackenkill (Section IX) at Cantine Field in Saugerties on Saturday at 4 p.m.
After winning the championship in 2018 and 2019, Center Moriches secured its third Long Island Class B title over the last four seasons. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m just really excited for these guys,” Center Moriches coach Paul Gibson III said. “They were super young and took some lumps last year and early this year, but they worked so hard to pick their game up and continue the tradition that we have.”
Jack Rupe followed Pulsipher with an RBI triple to give Center Moriches a 3-0 advantage. Center Moriches tacked on three runs on an RBI single from Brayden Hromada, a run-scoring wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from Joey Hiller, who earned the victory after allowing three runs over four innings.
Before the first pitch, Center Moriches emphasized the importance of putting together an early rally against star Wheatley pitcher Kyle Rosenberg.
“It was huge,” Pulsipher said. “We talked about it before the game. We needed at least four runs in the first inning and we got six. It did the job.”
Wheatley (19-3-1) entered as the defending Long Island Conference VI champion. The Wildcats scored three runs in the fourth after Center Moriches stretched the lead to 8-0, but were unable to pull any closer the rest of the way.
Hiller displayed plenty of poise in his first experience on the Long Island championship stage along with his freshman catcher, Hromada. Rupe entered in relief and pitched three scoreless innings to secure the title.
“This is great,” Hiller said. “It feels amazing and I’ll remember this for my whole life.”
