Oceanside rallies past East Meadow

Nick Iadevaio’s two-run double highlighted a seven-run fifth inning as No. 8 Oceanside came from behind to beat No. 9 East Meadow, 9-6, in the opening round of the Nassau Class AA baseball playoffs last Saturday. 

Mike Connell went 3-for-4 and knocked in four runs to lead the Sailors, who advanced to take on No. 2 Calhoun in a best-of-three series.

The Sailors had difficulty scoring for much of the season, but have averaged 10 runs per game over the past three contests. Coach Andy Morris hopes the recent offensive surge will continue. “The offense has been a problem for most of the season,” Morris said. “Michael Connell ignited the team with some big hits today, and the guys rallied around him. He’s had to battle injuries for two seasons, but he’s never backed down.”

East Meadow couldn’t have asked for a better start. The Jets quickly loaded the bases against Oceanside senior southpaw Dan Frisch. With one out, Kyle Berger stepped up to the plate. The junior first baseman, and team’s leading hitter, blasted a drive to deep right field which easily cleared the fence for a grand slam.  

Unfortunately for the Jets, it would be all the offense they could muster for the first six innings. Frisch, who would surrender only two hits over the next five innings, settled down and kept batters off balance for much of the day.

The Jets sent senior ace Max Schoenfeld, a seven-game winner in 2009, to the mound. Schoenfeld pitched a complete-game shutout when the Jets blanked Oceanside, 1-0, in April. For the first four innings, Schoenfeld looked like he’d be tough to beat. Mixing his fastball with off speed pitches, the right hander had the Sailors frustrated and off balance.

The Jets took a 4-2 lead to the bottom of the fifth. Joe Totino led things off with a single, Chris Flynn was hit by pitch, and Mike Hertling singled to left to load the bases. Joe Gallub singled to bring home Totino, setting the stage for Iadevaio. After Iadevaio put the Sailors ahead, Connell and Totino both followed with clutch two-RBI singles.

East Meadow threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with no outs. But Erik Kondak put out the fire. The Sailors turned a brilliant 5-4-3 double play with first baseman Alex Pallatto making an outstanding dig out of the dirt. Kondak then got Berger to pop out to second for the final out. 

Calhoun, which beat the Sailors handily both times the teams met during the regular season, is a heavy favorite to advance to the semifinals. “They have the best hitting team I have seen in 10 years,” Morris said. “We only scored two runs in the two games with them. We’ll need to put up some runs, and try to keep their hitters off balance.”