By Tucker Terranova/Axcess Baseball

It was a clash of titans between two teams seemingly destined to collide all summer long. When the bright lights of Jean Cochran Park illuminated the North Fork of the Hamptons on Monday night, the South Shore Clippers and North Fork Ospreys took the field — each vying for a step toward their third HCBL championship.

The hundreds in attendance were treated to a heavyweight bout, as the Clippers and Ospreys exchanged haymakers in a back-and-forth thriller. The final and biggest haymaker of the night was a knockout blow from Larry Hotaling (Villanova), whose clutch eighth-inning grand slam sealed South Shore’s 11-6 win.

“It was exciting having all my teammates celebrating with me,” Hotaling, who finished fifth in batting average this season while yet to play a collegiate game, said of the homer. “I was just trying to make it a battle between me and the pitcher there.”

Hotaling’s performance was a continuation of a torrid three-game stretch for the Villanova product. In the postseason, Hotaling has recorded 12 RBIs, good for the most in the HCBL.

South Shore wasted no time putting pressure on Ospreys starter Nick Munoz (Riverside CC). The Clippers opened the first inning with a single and a walk, setting the table for Anthony Armenia (Bridgeport), who laced a double into the right-center field gap to drive in both runners. He was thrown out stretching for a triple, but the damage was already done.

The early support gave Clippers starter Conor Burns (St. John’s) a cushion, and the right-hander settled in quickly. Burns kept North Fork in check through the early innings, delivering five strong frames of three-run ball while allowing six hits, walking three, and striking out five.

South Shore added on in the third inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ryan Kiendle (St. John’s), a familiar teammate of Burns’, came through with a clutch single to right, scoring two and extending the lead to 4-0.

The early advantage allowed the Clippers to shake the Finals jitters quickly, something Hotaling said was the plan entering the contest.

“It makes it easier on our pitching when we tack on runs early,” Hotaling said of his team’s early scoring. “We knew North Fork was a great team, so we wanted to set the tone early.”

Just when it looked like the game might slip away, the Ospreys responded with a rally of their own. In the bottom of the third, Rocco Cimino (Pace) drove in Trevor Dosenbach (Richmond) with a sacrifice fly, and James Fagnant (Richmond) followed with an RBI single to score Vincent Mariniello (Franklin & Marshall), trimming the lead to 4-2.

The Clippers capitalized on North Fork’s miscues in the fifth. A runner advanced to second on an error, then to third on a wild pitch, before Justin Wilkinson (Adelphi) drove him in with a sharp liner to left, stretching the lead to 5-2.

But the Ospreys weren’t done. HCBL batting champion Thomas Matuszewski (Jefferson), fresh off a record-setting 7-RBI performance in the semifinals, sent a towering shot off the left-field wall for a double, to bring in a runner and cut the deficit to 5-3.

Burns and reliever Joe Swinarski (New Haven) responded by fanning five straight batters between the fifth and sixth innings, temporarily silencing the Ospreys’ momentum.

Still, the drama wasn’t over. In the seventh, Brendan Duffy (SUNY Oneonta) came through with a two-out, two-run single that brought the Osprey faithful to their feet and tied the game at 5.

The Clippers' offense quickly responded, loading the bases with no outs. After a four-pitch walk gave South Shore the lead, Hotaling’s towering shot to left locked up the win for the Clippers and sucked the life out of Cochran Park.

The Ospreys refused to roll over, plating one in the eighth, but it would not be enough for a comeback as South Shore added an insurance run of their own in the ninth.

With the win, the Clippers now sit one win away from their first HCBL championship since 2023. They’ll look to seal the deal tomorrow at William Floyd High School, with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.

For Hotaling, he knows the job isn’t done.

“We want to play our game and try to close it out tomorrow,” he said. “We have a ton of guys who have been on this team for multiple years, so it would be cool to win for them.