Rocks first win a walk-off

After dropping its first four non-conference baseball games, East Rockaway got in the win column in 2014 with back-to-back league victories. 

Freshman outfielder Chris Deptulski, playing in his first varsity game, lined an opposite field single to left with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to drive home senior Dom DeGiulio with the game’s only run as the Rocks beat Carle Place 1-0 in Conference B-C. Deputulski finished with a pair of hits and a walk in his debut. 

Senior Patrick Kelly struck out seven batters over six strong innings for East Rockaway. Mike DelGais pitched a scoreless inning to earn the win.  

Despite starting the season 0-4, Rocks coach James Hickey believes his team took plenty of positives away from the non-league games. “We put together a very tough non-conference schedule on purpose to get prepared for the league games,” Hickey said. “Playing against larger schools like Lynbrook, South Side, and Oceanside was a good test for us. We were very competitive playing against strong teams. The guys learned a lot from it.”

In the conference opener for both teams, Kelly was masterful for six innings, despite dealing with the wind, cold, and a light rain. He got himself out of a jam in the opening inning by picking a runner off third base, and battled through a 13-pitch at bat in the top of the sixth before inducing a ground out. 

DeGiulio opened the bottom of the seventh by walking. After an unsuccessful attempt to bunt him over, he stole second setting the stage for Deptulski’s heroics. 

The following day, the Rocks got a complete game from senior Damian Amirudden in a 4-2 win over the Frogs. Amirudden struck out eight, and helped himself by going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI. 

Kelly, who had a terrific day in the field at the hot corner, knocked in a pair of runs in the first inning to give the Rocks a lead they would never relinquish. Carle Place took the final game of the series as junior Mike Delio tossed a one-hitter. 

While Kelly and Amirudden have kept the Rocks in games when they’ve taken the ball, East Rockaway (2-5 overall, 2-1 in B-C) has struggled offensively as a team in the early going. DelGais has been one of the bright spots at bat. The sophomore leadoff batter is reaching base at a .480 clip and has a batting average of .320.

“We need more consistent at-bats, especially when we’re behind in the count,” Hickey said. “We have to approach things differently when we have two strikes on us. If we cut down on our strikeouts and put the ball in play, we’ll give ourselves a better chance to score runs. We’ve lost a few real tight games, so our pitching is keeping us in games.”

The Rocks will host Friends Academy next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.