Tyler Kregeloh pitches shutout as Plainedge tops Clarke
Plainedge starting pitcher Tyler Kregeloh helps himself out with an easy out at first during a Nassau Conference A-IV baseball game against Clarke in North Massapequa on Monday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Tyler Kregeloh has embraced this baseball season by holding his most painful moment close.
The Plainedge senior keeps on the bulletin board by his desk the Newsday article from the Red Devils’ one-run loss to Bethpage in the deciding Game 3 of the teams’ 2021 county championship series. When he looks at it, the righthander is reminded of the full-count walk he issued that led to the game-winning run and made him the hard-luck loser in a pitching duel.
“It makes me play with a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “A county title – that’s what I am going after.”
That chip was there for all to see on Monday as he crafted a five-hit shutout in the Red Devils' 2-0 Nassau A-IV victory over Clarke at chilly Plainedge Athletic Complex.
The Rams had two aboard with one out in the seventh inning but Kregeloh got a groundout and a strikeout to finish the job. He didn’t issue a walk and struck out eight. This season he is 3-0 and has allowed one earned run in 19 innings (0.47 ERA).
“They really hadn’t put a barrel on the ball all game, so I was confident,” Kregeloh said. “Strikes low in the zone is what had worked and I kept on it.”
This was not a one-man effort by any means. Shortstop Troy Emmanuel drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning for a 1-0 lead and dashed home from third on Kregeloh’s flyout to right, sliding under the tag for a big insurance run in the fifth inning.
“I use my speed to do a lot in a game and we really needed that run,” he said. “With a one-run lead anything can happen. With two runs and Tyler pitching, it’s a lot more comfortable.”
Clarke righthander Sean Welsh gave up the two runs (one earned), two hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
Plainedge (7-1, 6-1) made a pair of huge defensive plays in the third inning after the Rams (7-2, 7-2) opened it with a pair of singles. Devils catcher Zach Rosenzweig picked a runner off second for the first out and a Kregeloh pickoff move put the runner on first base in a rundown for the second out.
“That was a really big defensive inning for us,” Plainedge coach Colin Fratrik said. “Zach’s throw down [to second] was on the money.”
Kregeloh stranded six Rams on base – three in scoring position – over his last four innings.
“They didn’t need help with [Kregeloh] pitching like he did,” Rams coach Tom Abruscato said. “It was a close game and our execution was horrendous. Getting caught [on the bases] changes a game. You’ve got to do things to beat pitching like that and we didn’t do anything to beat him.”
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.
