Baseball Rams lose to White Plains 5-3 away in one-and-done late inning playoffs 'debacle'

May 22, 2024 at 10:35 p.m.

Junior Jordany German was in his sixth inning pitching in Port Chester’s first-round playoff game away against White Plains last Saturday, May 18 when he faltered. The Rams went from leading 3-2 to losing 5-3 in short order. (File Photo/Westmore News)

It was what the Rams baseball coach called another "late game debacle," a sixth inning meltdown involving two hit batters, a bobbled outfield base hit and a dropped infield throw that cost Port Chester its late lead and a winnable away game against White Plains last Saturday (5/18).

And in the one-and-done playoffs, that's all it takes to end the season.

One minute the Rams junior All-Section ace pitcher Jordany German was cruising going into the bottom of the sixth with Port Chester leading 3-2.

And the next minute, German went from throwing a two-hitter with eight strikeouts to hitting two batters with close pitches and allowing a base hit to centerfield on a two-out 3-2 pitch. The Rams outfielder juggled the ball. And with the White Plains runners off and running on the pitch, that was all it took to score the tying run.

The game changers

"Up until that moment, German had pitched good enough to win," Rams coach Sean Burke said, still hurting from the turn of events that were yet to take an even worse turn.

German was near his pitch limit and tiring. So Burke decided to make a change and brought in sophomore Bryan Sachs from shortstop to try to close out the game that was tied at that point.

And it looked as though Sachs had succeeded in sending the game into extra innings.

The dropped ball

With the runners going on another 3-2 pitch, the White Plains batter hit the ball to shortstop for what should have been the third out.

But it wasn't. Because the first baseman dropped the ball. And that error allowed two runs to score.

White Plains took the lead 5-3. And that, as they say, was that.

Except Burke had more to say.

"We're young, inexperienced and we have to learn how to win," Burke said. "But we haven't learned how to put the other team away. In something like nine of our 11 losses, we have been leading going into the late innings. And this one was harder to take because it was in the playoffs."

Up until that disastrous sixth inning, the Rams had been playing well.

The good and the bad

Freshman outfielder Roy Morris had worked a walk and Sachs doubled him home for the Rams’ first run in the third inning.

And Sachs had led off with another double in the fifth, Ryan Gagnon followed with a base hit and John (Tommy) Tomassetti doubled them both home with a two-strike hit-and-run RBI small ball shot into the gap.

The Rams were up 3-2. And it should have been enough the way German was pitching.

But it wasn't.

And now the Rams must wait until next year.