Baseball: SWR to face Bayport today in county finals

For the fifth time this season, the Shoreham-Wading River baseball team will square off against Bayport-Blue Point.

To win the county title, the Wildcats will need to force a sixth game. 

Shoreham will face the Phantoms at 4 p.m. today in the Class A county finals. The Phantoms, after beating Shoreham 6-1 last week, are still unbeaten in the double elimination tournament. So after emerging from the loser’s bracket, the Wildcats will need to beat the Phantoms twice. Shoreham beat Harborfields 7-1 Friday to keep its season alive.

Their first chance against Bayport comes today, when they’ll likely be faced against Bayport ace Jack Piekos again. Piekos, last year’s Suffolk County Pitcher of the Year as a junior, threw a five-hitter against Shoreham last Wednesday. This would be the fourth time Shoreham has seen Piekos this season.

Piekos dominated Shoreham earlier in this season in a league game, striking out 17 while throwing nine shutout innings. But the Phantoms could never score a run, either, and the game eventually ended in the 13th inning, with Shoreham prevailing 1-0. Piekos then pitched in relief four days later in the last game of the series, which also went extra innings. Wednesday’s game was the third game he’s pitched against Shoreham.

In total, the Wildcats have seen 17 innings of Piekos this month.

If the Wildcats win today, the teams will play against Thursday back in Shoreham. A Bayport win would send the Phantoms — the defending state champions — into the Long Island Championship June 7 at Dowling Sports Complex.

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