Baldwin pulls away from East Meadow

In a matchup between two of the youngest teams in the Nassau Class A boys’ lacrosse playoffs, sixth-seeded Baldwin got a goal from junior Derrick Darnulc 12 seconds into last Friday’s first-round game and never trailed in a 17-10 victory over No. 11 East Meadow.

Junior Mike Ainbinder scored five goals, senior Tyler Harper had three goals and three assists, freshman Tyler Warner picked up two goals and three assists, and junior Austin Valenti assisted on five goals and scored once as the Bruins (10-6) advanced to face No. 3 Syosset in the quarterfinals at Hofstra. The Jets (8-8) got a hat trick from junior Chris Whitenack and one goal and three assists from senior Sean Hinchy.

“We came out strong and stayed ahead, but they’re just so tough,” Baldwin coach Rich Garguilo said. “East Meadow keeps coming at you. We go up by two and they come back with one. We go up four, they get two. We knew they weren’t giving up and that we had to play well to advance.”

Freshmen Nick Suchocki and Bobby Bender scored eight seconds apart early in the second half to bring the Jets within 7-6, but that was as close as they’d get. Working in front of a defense led by seniors Bryan Crespo and Mack Ogrodnick, Baldwin junior goalie Brett Dadiego made eight saves.

“They’re more experienced than we are in the back,” said East Meadow coach Barney Del’Aquilla, who started a junior (Adam Suchocki) and two sophomores (Collin Skinner/Dennis Caramante) on defense and freshman Dan Wood (10 saves) between the pipes. “This was the first playoff game for an awful lot of our kids,” he added. “We did some good things but didn’t play a full four quarters.”       

Ainbinder, sophomore Michael Abrahams and junior Patrick Dillon scored over a six-minute span in the third quarter to extend the lead to 10-6. After East Meadow sophomore Chris Buschi and Valenti traded goals, Whitenack scored with eight seconds remaining in the third to make it 11-8.