Riverhead - Through 8½ weeks, there have been a fair share of long balls, strikeouts, double plays and high fives. There have been two no-hitters, one All-Star Game rout, and thousands of fans. The first five-team summer of Hamptons Collegiate Baseball has just about concluded, only with a matter of days remaining, a regular season champion still hasn't been decided.

North Fork's Adam Clear has not only done the job with the glove but also ranks second on the team in RBI with 17.

A weekend's worth of games couldn't separate the top four in the standings, and although all four clinched playoff spots with victories and/or a Sag Harbor loss on Sunday, home field advantage is still at stake with a full slate of games beginning on Monday with North Fork visiting Southampton at Stony Brook Southampton.

Westhampton, Southampton, Riverhead and North Fork are all assured of a playoff spot when Sag Harbor was mathematically eliminated on Sunday with a doubleheader split with sixth-place Long Island. On Monday, the division playoff schedule was set as follows:

Semifinals (single game)
Saturday, August 1
No. 4 seed at No 1 seed, 5 p.m.
No. 3 seed at No. 2 seed, 5 p.m.
Finals (best of three)
Game 1: Sunday, August 2, at higher seed, 2 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, August 2, at higher seed, 5 p.m.
Game 3: Monday, August 3, at lower seed, 5 p.m.
August 4 and 5: make-up games if necessary
ACBL championship (single game)
Thursday, August 6, at Kaiser Division champion's field, 5 p.m.

For Southampton, much will be settled on Wednesday when it and Riverhead square off at Stony Brook Southampton. In the nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader, the two squads ended play in a 7-7 tie when the game was called due to darkness. The Tomcats scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extras, at which time the umpires opted to postpone the finish. The conclusion of the game takes place Wednesday at 4 p.m., or an hour prior to the originally scheduled 5 p.m. start.

Mark Sunga (left) and Southampton have made all the plays late to pull out a series of nail-biting wins this summer.

After its lackluster start, one can't help but be surprised that Southampton now controls its own destiny. The Breakers have done their job in the clutch; they're 8-2 in games decided by two runs or less, which bodes well for the Wednesday's make-up.

"The guys have done a good job getting through in those tough spots," Breakers Head Coach Andrew Lorraine said. "We've had a few missteps along the way, but with the game on the line, we're making plays in the field, we're getting good pitching and guys have gotten the key hit for us. That's what it's all about in the end when you're facing good pitchers. Hopefully we can keep doing what we're doing."

Westhampton's 11-game win streak put it on pace to run away with the division yet Riverhead surged as well and the Tomcats temporarily held the division lead after Sag Harbor's win at Westhampton Thursday. A pair of splits for the Aviators put them in prime position at 23-15, although 22-14 Southampton is percentage points ahead. Riverhead has dropped three straight and the fourth game – the postponed nightcap from Sunday – still up in the air.

Nevertheless, the Aviators lead the division in runs scored with 214, or just over 5.5 per game. Their pitching has also done the job; Westhampton is the only team in the Kaiser Division not to have given up double-digit runs in a game this season.

Justin Bradley of UNC-Wilmington is one of two Aviators with an ERA under two, joining Nick Ahmed of UConn.

"Under the circumstances, our pitching's been great," Westhampton Manager Dave Walker said. "We were short a couple [pitchers], but that we've been great defensively helped out a lot. Most of our pitchers' velocities are in the mid- to upper 80s and everybody's thrown the ball well. When we've gotten into trouble, it's been because of a lack of control in particular games or we've made a couple errors, but for the most part, our pitching's been real strong top to bottom."

To the north, the Ospreys have shrugged off two stretches in July in which they went 1-4. Daniel Etienne (Southern Illinois) gave them a lift on Wednesday of last week when he struck out 14 Breakers in the North Fork's 9-1 win. Pitching shined again on Saturday when Scott Gussaroff (Fairfield) outdueled Riverhead ace Nick Tropeano (Stony Brook) in a 5-2 victory. North Fork, now just a half-game out of first, plays its final road game on Monday at Southampton before hosting games on Wednesday and Thursday against Sag Harbor and Southampton respectively.

Riverhead has fallen back to fourth place but it is nevertheless within a game of the top spot. The Tomcats have dropped four straight dating back to their 6-5 win over North Fork on July 19, which marked the last of their nine consecutive wins. Riverhead nevertheless boasts two of the division's better prospects – first baseman Peter Greskoff (Brown), who holds the ACBL lead in home runs (9) and RBI (3) and currently sits third in average at .375. Tropeano is also a Triple Crown threat as he is tops in wins (7) and strikeouts (74) but his 1.49 ERA puts him second behind Southampton's Nick Melchiorre (1.45).

The best the Whalers could finish entering the weekend was 21-19, the victory total matching that or the fourth-place squad. Sag Harbor, Southampton and the North Fork benefited from doubleheader forfeits by the Long Island Mustangs, a team not under the HCB umbrella who plays its home ball at New York Tech. The Mustangs' headcount dwindled as the weeks went on, and even though they were playing their best ball at season's end, their front office indicated that they won't have the pitchers to log another week.

The Whalers, who were in the hunt early, have dealt with injuries all season long, including to ace pitcher Gardner Leaver, other arms including Ryan Radke (Hofstra) and Daniel LoCastro (Elon), and both of their catchers (Milan Adams, Mike McCarthy). Scott June of All-Pro Sports Academy took over for the departed Jason Lefkowitz as manager earlier this month.