Baseball: Tomcats pick up rain-shortened victory as season nears end

Aaron Slegers may not want to leave the East End just yet.

The 6-foot-10 Riverhead Tomcats pitcher threw a second straight gem with six shutout innings against Westhampton Tuesday afternoon in a 4-0 rain-shortened victory. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native, who pitches for Indiana University, gave up just one run over his final 12 innings in two games, both Riverhead victories.

The Tomcats already had their postseason hopes dashed going into Tuesday’s game, but Slegers made the most of his final start. He gave up just two hits and walked two.

Westhampton did strike for an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning, but a thunderstorm blew in forcing the game to be canceled. After a half-hour wait, which included frequent lightning strikes — accounting for a 30-minute wait after each strike before play could possibly be resumed — the game was called at 7:15. So the top half of the seventh and Westhampton’s one run got wiped off the books.

Riverhead opened the game with a leadoff home run from Keith Herring. They scored three more in the third, which included a two-run home run from Jamie Wollerman.