Sticks Northeast catcher Raymond Ferguson corrals pop that jumped out of and back into his glove.

By Sean Reilly

When Cillian Morrissey of .9ers Baseball Club came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning on Thursday afternoon at Diamond Nation, the situation was unique.

The score was tied, with two men on base and one out. Since it was the final inning, his team was guaranteed not to lose. The worst possible outcome from that point onward against Sticks Northeast would be a tie. 

Did it change Morrissey’s approach? Hardly. 

“I like winning,” he said. “I’m a competitor.” 

With that as his motivation, Morrissey hit a hard single through the middle to score Tyler Garbooshian from third and give .9ers Baseball a 2-1 victory at the Super 17U World Series. 

The game has been scoreless through six innings.

After Long Island-based Sticks Northeast scored in the top of the seventh, the Shore-located .9ers Baseball had to rally, or else, in the bottom of the inning, since non-playoff games at ‘The Nation’ end after seven innings. 

After .9ers Baseball was limited to two hits until that point, Matt Ferrara led off with his second double of the game, both going to left-center field. 

Garbooshian was up next, and walked on a full count. Ryder Simpson followed with a single to left field, but Ferrara slipped rounding third, forcing him to hold there and load the bases. 

Joey Peacock hit a grounder to third that resulted in an out at first, but scored Ferrara with the tying run. It also left runners on second and third. 

That sent up Morrissey, who had been 0-for-2 to that point.

Cillian Morrissey follows through on game-winning hit for .9ers Baseball. 

His single scored Garbooshian and concluded a 3-1 tournament showing for his team. 

“It was a fastball up and in, and I hit it up the middle,” he said.

Sticks Northeast (1-3) had been limited to one hit against three .9ers pitchers entering the seventh. Raymond Ferguson led off with a triple to right center, and Marco Coscia followed with a sacrifice fly to right field. 

Tyler Bunnell was the starting pitcher for .9ers Baseball. He worked three innings, allowing no hits with six strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter. Owen Wallace pitched the fourth. He allowed a single and a walk with one out, but struck out the next two batters. Tyler McLeod worked the remainder to earn the win.

Arthur Green went the first five innings for Sticks Northeast, allowing two hits with seven strikeouts and four walks.

Tyler Garbooshian scores the winning run for .9ers Baseball.