Blue Devil Baseball Comes from Behind on Senior Day

Four seniors were honored during an emotional pre-game ceremony with parents and family members before the Huntington varsity baseball team took the field and later came from behind to topple league foe Centereach, 8-5.

The seniors included captains Henry Gerberg and Presley Moss and teammates Luca Terrado and Matthew James. The ceremony kicked off with the seniors walking their parents to the mound following brief anecdotes about each player from head coach John Romano.

One annual tradition that Coach Romano has started is to have the dads throw the “last first pitch” prior to the game. The dads fired strikes to their senior sons “to represent a full circle moment of all the hard work these seniors have put it throughout their career and also to say thank you to the parents for everything they have done throughout their baseball career dating back to little league,” Romano said.

Once the home plate umpire yelled “Play Ball,” Huntington got to work, getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when Jesse Blohm doubled down the left field line.

Moss, the big Blue Devil lefthander was effective throughout the first four innings, striking out 10 of the first 13 batters of the game, while allowing only one run.

Centereach broke through in the fifth inning, taking a 4-2 lead. Huntington flipped the game on its head in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five runs on four hits to take the lead, 8-5. The biggest blow in the inning was a single by James that drove in two runs.

Moss went 6.2 innings and struck out 13 Centereach batters. Due to pitch limit, Presley was lifted for Henry Gerberg who came in and struck out the final batter of the game to earn the save.

“Presley pitched great; he had great command of his fast ball and was able to get ahead of hitters all game long,” Coach Romano said. “The team really stepped up in big spots to drive in runs, make great defensive plays and throw strikes.”

The exciting game swung back and forth and generally hung on every pitch, keeping fans on the edge of their seats.

Huntington collected 11 hits in the game, with Moss, Joey Perotti and Gabe MacManus reaching base safely multiple times. Blohm’s early RBI was important, too.

A post-game party was thrown for the team by parents, who arranged attractive tables filled with food in the gym lobby. The Huntington parents definitely love their Blue Devils.