The last Riverhead team standing in the postseason fell Saturday in a 10-0 defeat against No. 10 Half Hollow Hills East. Playing in their first playoff game since 2008, the Blue Waves just couldn’t get the bats going at Half Hollow Hills East High School.
Featuring a fastball that zipped to the upper 80s, Thunderbirds starting pitcher Brandon Bonomo was as good as advertised Saturday afternoon, limiting Riverhead to three hits in a complete game effort.
The Marist College recruit struck out seven and earned his sixth win of the season.
“We weren’t picked to do much this year and we finished third in the league,” Riverhead head coach Rob Maccone said. “We just ran into a great pitcher today. Runners got on and the kid just threw harder and I didn’t think he could throw that much harder. He just didn’t let us get that one big hit.”
Riverhead (12-9) had runners in scoring position in the first, fourth and fifth inning but couldn’t get them across to score. They had a chance with the bases loaded in the fifth but Bonomo worked his way out of the jam.
Hills East (14-7) will advance to play either No. 7 Sachem East or No. 16 Bellport in the second round of the Suffolk County AA tournament.
Though the season ended on a sour note, there was still much to say for this group of seniors that ended the playoff drought for Riverhead baseball.
“We won a lot of one-run games which we weren’t doing in the past,” Maccone said. “The biggest game of the year was coming back from 3-0 against Hills West and we came back and won in 10 innings.”
A lineup that featured seven seniors, will need to rebuild a bit next season.
“They’re going to be missed,” Maccone said. “They’re great kids that did everything we asked. Pitching on short rest, playing a position they’re not used to, and doing everything it took to win a game. I’m going to miss them a lot.”
A handful of JV players were brought up to get a taste of what it’s like in the playoffs.
“We brought up some kids so they could experience and see what a playoff game looks like,” Maccone said. “We haven’t made the playoffs in a long time.”
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Courtney Blasl
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