GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Mike Dolce had a no-hitter going for the Riverhead Tomcats before surrendering a single to the North Fork Ospreys in the seventh inning.
OSPREYS 4, TOMCATS 3
For over six innings, Mike Dolce had no-hit stuff going. That was before the North Fork Ospreys finally solved him and then the rest of the Riverhead Tomcats.
The Ospreys, the hottest team in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, maintained their form at the start of a busy Saturday, executing a 4-3 triumph over the Tomcats. It was North Fork’s 10th win in 11 games.
A squeeze bunt by Mike Hayden with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning was bobbled by the pitcher, allowing Nick Heath to race home for the winning run.
Heath had drawn a one-out walk before Austin Miller drove a double that center fielder Jack Sundberg dove for but couldn’t hold. Joe Kuzia then intentionally walked designated hitter Jim Pjura to load the bases for Hayden, who faced a new pitcher, John Axley.
The Tomcats (18-21) had already been eliminated from contention for the league’s four-team playoffs before the first pitch was thrown, but the game had a little more meaning to the Ospreys (21-18), who are hoping to secure third place in the final standings.
The game, postponed from the night before because of heavy rain at Jean W. Cochran Park in Peconic, was officially a home game for the Ospreys, but played on the Tomcats’ home field since the Ospreys’ field was unavailable.
Dolce was the story for most of the contest. Before the game he told Tomcats manager Randy Caden that he would throw a no-hitter, and he nearly did.
A controversy seemed to be brewing when the first Ospreys batter in the seventh, Tom O’Neill, hit a grounder to shortstop Andre Jernigan. The third bounce shot up suddenly, striking Jernigan in the throat area and allowing O’Neill to reach base safely. A tough error was charged to Jernigan on the play, keeping the no-hitter alive.
It didn’t last long after that, though. Two batters later, Michael Fries ripped a single through the middle for North Fork’s first hit, drawing applause from his teammates.
That came on Dolce’s 110th and final pitch of the day. With a potential no-hitter out of the way, Caden immediately went to the mound to take the right-hander out of the game.
One of the two runs the Ospreys scored that inning from Eric Solberg’s two-run double were charged to Dolce. He finished with seven strikeouts, three walks and two hit batsmen.
The game was the first of five on a busy final day of the regular season, with the first, second, third and fourth places still to be decided. Both the Tomcats and the Ospreys had second games to play later in the day. The Tomcats were headed to Westhampton for their final game while the Ospreys will host a night game against the Sag Harbor Whalers. The playoffs begin Monday with best-of-three semifinal series.