South Side's streak hits 13

A year after a brief and disappointing playoff stay, South Side is the highest-seeded team remaining in the Nassau Class A baseball tournament and riding a 13-game winning streak into the semifinals.

The Conference A-II champion Cyclones, seeded No. 3, completed a quarterfinal series sweep of No. 7 Garden City with a 2-1 road victory on May 17. Junior Ed Farington singled home senior Louis Laupheimer with the winning run in the top of the seventh, and junior Louis Matarazzo earned his second save in as many days when he shut the door on the Trojans’ season.

“The kids are fired up and playing very well,” South Side coach Keith Lessuk said. “Early in the season we set a goal to reach the county finals, and now we’re one step away.”

The Cyclones (16-6) will try to remove the Cinderella tag from No. 16 Plainedge in a best-of-three semifinal series this week. The Red Devils stunned top-seeded Clarke in the quarterfinals. The winner advances to face either No. 5 Manhasset or No. 8 Island Trees in the best-of-three championship series next week at SUNY Farmingdale. South Side’s last county title came in 1982.

“We’re both playing our best ball of the season,” Lessuk said of the Cyclones and Plainedge. “It’s going to be an interesting series.”

Senior Christian Colletti earned his second playoff win with a dominant performance in Game 2 against Garden City. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out nine in six innings of work. Three errors staked the Trojans to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but they never threatened thereafter.

“Christian was at about 85 pitches after just throwing 100 in the playoff opener against Bethpage,” Lessuk said. “He was tremendous. We got him the lead and Louis finished it off.”

In addition to swinging a red-hot bat, Matarazzo (.443 average) hasn’t allowed a run in 10 consecutive innings of relief. He also earned the save in Game 1 of the quarterfinal series, tossing two scoreless innings of a thrilling come-from-behind 14-10 victory at Barasch Field on May 16.

“We had some defensive lapses early and fell behind 10-2,” Lessuk said. “It’s never fun chasing eight runs, but we just happen to have the most incredible inning I’ve ever experienced as a coach.”

South Side, which hasn’t lost since April 17, exploded for 12 runs in the bottom of the fifth, with Matarazzo, junior Ben Hoefer, junior Eddie Tammaro, and senior Vinny Tyers all getting two hits in the inning. Tyers hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 10-7, Matarazzo a two-run single to make it 10-9, Hoefer a tying RBI single, and Tammaro a two-run single to put the hosts ahead for good.

“I’m proud of the guys for working so hard and staying focused,” Lessuk said.