VSC rallies for playoff spot

Given the manner in which the baseball season began for Valley Stream Central, with six losses in seven games including an 0-4 mark against conference rivals, figuring out how to return to the Nassau Class AA playoffs wasn’t the first thing on coach Frank Alesia’s mind.

“We felt it might come down to us and Long Beach, but we had to take it one game at a time,” Alesia said.

The Eagles finished with a respectable 7-9 record in Conference AA-III and squeezed into the postseason. They earned the No. 11 seed and went down fighting in last Saturday’s opening round, 11-9, at Plainview-JFK. Central rallied with four runs in the seventh but fell short after Justin Kimmel recorded the final three outs to save it for the Hawks. Junior Joe Stewart had seven RBIs and senior Tom Logan homered in the defeat.

“We were down six going into the last inning and had the tying run on base,” Alesia said. “Early in the year, we may have put our heads down trailing 11-5. But these guys came back to the dugout after the bottom of the sixth like we were up by three.”

The Eagles bottomed out April 18 when they committed nine errors in a 17-8 loss at home to Long Beach. The turning point came the next day, however, when senior Justyn Crisostomo blanked the Marines, 6-0, on a three-hitter with no walks and nine strikeouts. Central then won the series finale, 7-6, at Firemen’s Field with a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. Senior Will DeLuca hit a game-tying two-run single and then Crisostomo (team-high .518 batting average) singled home senior Eric Pujols with the decisive run in walk-off fashion.

Though the Eagles’ bats were quiet against defending county champion MacArthur, the two runs they produced in the series opener against eventual conference champ Calhoun on May 2 was enough to provide their most impressive win of 2016. Stewart twirled a gem against the Colts and made Logan’s two-run double in the top of the first hold up for a 2-1 victory. Stewart struck out eight and walked two in a complete-game performance.

“Beating Calhoun really boosted our confidence level,” Alesia said.

Central entered its final regular-season series against Great Neck South needing a sweep and some help from MacArthur to qualify for the playoffs. The Eagles took care of business, outscoring the Rebels 22-6 while winning all three matchups, and edged Long Beach for the conference’s final playoff spot after the Marines lost twice to MacArthur and tied the finale called because of darkness.

Stewart, DeLuca and Crisostomo came through against Great Neck South. In the opener, Stewart picked up the win and fanned 10 and DeLuca went 4-for-4 with three RBIs in a 10-4 decision. Crisostomo took the middle game, 6-2, with eight strikeouts, and DeLuca worked five innings in the finale to earn a 6-0 victory as Stewart and senior Ryan Forbes led the offense.

“It was great to see the seniors go out with another playoff appearance,” said Alesia, who last spring guided the Eagles to the county semifinals.