Long Beach wins fourth straight

With a lineup consisting of five sophomores, two seniors and two juniors, Long Beach pounded out 14 hits and capitalized on nine Valley Stream Central errors in a 17-8 victory in a Conference AA-III baseball game Monday at Firemen’s Field.

The bottom of the order raked for the Marines, who after sweeping Great Neck South last week improved to 4-0. Their No. 6 through 9 batters — Kyle Kubelle, Dante Vittor, Chris Espinoza and Matteo Camarda — combined to score 11 runs. Vittor went 3-for-4, while Kubelle, Espinoza and Camarda had two hits apiece. Senior Justyn Crisosotomo had four hits to lead the Eagles, who slipped to 0-4.

“We’re very excited,” Long Beach coach Jason Zizza said. “It doesn’t matter who you play or when you play them, a win is a win in this conference. Every win is fought for. We worked through a bunch of errors to get this one.”

Long Beach committed six miscues in the field behind junior pitcher Kevin Dunn Jr., who lasted just 2 2/3 innings after tossing a two-hitter against Great Neck South a week earlier. Dunn allowed six hits and walked six while striking out five and left the mound in a 7-7 deadlock after throwing 99 pitches. Sophomore Evan Garcia was strong in 3 1/3 innings of relief to earn the victory.

“Kevin didn’t have it today, but the offense and the bullpen picked him up and that’s what it’s all about,” Zizza said. “Evan did a great job in relief. He held them down and we continued to pile on runs.”

Long Beach scored five runs in the top of the third to take a 7-5 lead and chased VSC starter Will DeLuca in the process. The Marines sent 10 batters to the plate, which opened with sophomore Sam Brinster’s triple and ended with his groundout to second. Kubelle, Vittor, Camarda and Garcia all had RBIs in the rally.

The Eagles tied it in the bottom of the inning with run-scoring hits off the bats of Joe Scanlon and Tom Logan, however Long Beach responded quickly with another five-run outburst in the fourth. Camarda was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 8-7, and John Diaz laced a two-run single highlighted by Espinoza’s acrobatic leap to avoid a tag at the plate.

“It’s something we practice,” Zizza said. “When a catcher drops to his knees, the runners are taught to go high. Chris made a great move.”

Garcia kept the Eagles off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth, and the Marines tacked on four more runs to put the game out of reach. Camarda had a two-run single and a pair of runs scored on two VSC errors on the same play after Deon Ray and Diaz pulled off a double steal.

“We’ve got some nice momentum going,” Zizza said. “It’s a young team, but the guys are confident in their abilities.”

Brinster starred in the Great Neck South series, throwing a one-hitter with four RBIs in a 13-2 victory in the finale on April 14.