Photo Credit: Christine Heeren/Artist Lake Media (Axcess Baseball)

By Justin Paura/Axcess Baseball

One month ago, Daniel O’Donnell (Lesley) was not a member of the Riverhead Tomcats. He pitched only two games during the regular season before his first playoff start in game 1 of the HCBL Championship Series. The Lesley senior rose to the challenge and earned the win as the top-seeded Riverhead Tomcats defeated the Long Island Road Warriors, 8-2.

Long Island’s offense seemed to be a problem in the beginning of this game. In their three-game series against Westhampton in the semis, the Road Warriors averaged seven runs per game. In the top of the first, the bats were still hot. Matthew Stepnoski (Wilmington) came to the plate with two outs and runners at first and second and fell behind in the count 1-2. The Southold-native ripped a double to clear the bases and put LI up 2-0.

The RBI double from the Road Warriors was the only time O’Donnell gave an inch all afternoon. The rest of the righty’s outing was sensational as he pitched five more innings and only surrendered two more hits and no runs.

O’Donnell’s teammates gave him run support throughout the game. Louis Antos (Queens) and Eduardo Malinowski (Pennsylvania) both got on-base with two outs in the bottom of the first to extend the inning. Chris Stefl (St. John’s) was the next man up and he roped a double down the line to score a run and cut Riverhead’s deficit in half.

The top of the Tomcats’ lineup kept it going in the third. One, two and three hitters Luke Oliphant (UMass), Alex Baratta (Binghamton) and Antos all got on base to stack the deck for Stefl once again. The St. Johns sophomore ripped another double to score a couple more runs, putting Riverhead on top 3-2.

Riverhead did not slow down at any point in the afternoon. In the bottom of the fifth, Antos kept up his hot streak with a RBI single. One batter later, Malinowski crushed an opposite field single to extend the lead to three runs. Two batters after that it was Markus Melendez (Mitchell) who brought home Malinowski with a single to cap off a three-run inning. The Tomcats put a lid on the game in the seventh. Josh Greene (St. John’s) blooped a hit to score two more runs and put the game out of reach.

After O'Donnell came out ahead of the seventh, Nick DeSalvo (LIU Brooklyn) entered to keep the Road Warriors silent. The reliever stayed strong in three innings of work, only allowing four hits and no runs. Long Island loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, but a ground out from Marcos Perivolaris (SUNY Cortland) ended the game and the Tomcats earned its first Championship Series win in six years.

Our Player of the Game is Daniel O’Donnell, who allowed only five hits and two runs while dishing out three strikeouts in six innings of work.

Riverhead has an opportunity to win the HCBL title on Tuesday, while The Road Warriors look to extend the league’s season. Game 2 is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Southampton High School. Keep us with @axcessbaseball on Twitter throughout the Championship Series.