On Tuesday afternoon, the baseball team traveled to Babylon to face one of the two remaining undefeated teams on Long Island. At 19-0, the Panthers have dominated Class B and Class C competition in Suffolk County this season, but saw a different beast in the Bears’ 9-4 win.

The Blue & White scored in the top of the 1st when Aiden Ruiz walked, stole second, and scored on a Jojo Franco single, then added to their lead in the 2nd with a two-out rally. With the bases empty, Mateo Lopez and Ruiz singled before a Jayden Stroman double sent both of them home with a 3-0 lead. Chris Nell struck out the side in the bottom half to move the game to the 3rd.

After the Bears went down in order in the 3rd, Babylon loaded the bases on a double, single, and a walk before a double cleared the bases to knot the game at 3-3. The tie proved to be short-lived as the Bears retook the lead for good in the 4th. Nico Marino and Lopez drew one-out walks. Ruiz followed with an RBI single. Lopez later scored on a passed ball to extend the Bear advantage to 5-3.

Nell threw a scoreless 4th up on the board, and the Bears added two more runs in the top of the 5th to add to their cushion. Jordan Serrano walked, then stole second and third before jogging home on a Seth Laureano double. After Laureano stole third, Marino registered a productive out with a run-scoring ground out for a 7-3 lead. Nell sat the Panthers down in order in the bottom of the 5th to maintain the margin.

Isaiah Gibbs led off the 6th with a pinch-hit home run to left, rudely welcoming a reliever on just his second pitch. The Bears then loaded the bases on a Stroman single and walks to Juju Martinez and Franco. A Serrano ground out gave The Brook a 9-3 lead. Babylon added their last run in the bottom of the 6th before Logan Charboneau struck out the side in the 7th to cap the victory.

Nell, Justin Rotondi, and Charboneau collectively limited a potent Panther offense, that came into the game averaging 7.9 runs with a high of 17, to just 6 hits and 4 runs. Nell earned the win with 3 earned runs and 10 strikeouts over 5.0 innings. The Bear attack rang up 9 runs against a defense that was allowing just 1.5 runs per game with 9 shutouts.

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