Oceanside takes two from Freeport

Though Oceanside failed to complete a three-game sweep of Conference AA-I baseball rival Freeport, falling 6-3 at home last Friday, Sailors coach Andy Morris was able to look at the bright side and the big picture.

“We came out of our first two series winning both,” said Morris, noting the team’s two wins over the Red Devils last week and two over Farmingdale during Spring Break. “If we can win the series we have against Syosset and Baldwin, the conference championship will come down to us and Massapequa. But there’s a lot of baseball to play and we don’t want to look past anyone.”

Freeport, which also took a game against Massapequa, is the most improved team in the conference, Morris said. The Red Devils jumped on Oceanside (5-5 overall, 4-2 in A-I) early in Friday’s series finale, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning and never looking back. Junior Joe LaBella struck out seven in six innings of work for the Sailors, who scored twice in the first and once in the sixth. “It just wasn’t a good day for us,” Morris explained. “We’ve been living by the motto that ‘today is the most important game of the year’ because it’s the only game we have. We just came out flat.”

LaBella had his second quality start. He blanked Farmingdale, 4-0, on April 12 for his first varsity win and struck out six in the process. “Joe showed he can pitch out of trouble against Farmingdale, and he didn’t pitch poorly against Freeport,” Morris said. “He kept us in the game after we had a chance to get out of the first without allowing a run.”

Oceanside took the first two games of the Freeport series, 10-6 on April 16, and 3-2 the following day. Senior third basemen Eric Mandell had four hits in a series opener that saw the Sailors score multiple runs in four different innings to back the pitching of junior James Long, who struck out nine. “It was probably our best hitting game of the season so far,” Morris said.