Spartans bust out, beat Falcons

After totaling only eight runs during a three-game slide, Valley Stream North came out swinging April 19 at Valley Stream South and exploded for a 23-11 victory in a Conference A-IV/VI baseball matchup.

Senior first basemen Joe Vasquez enjoyed a career day, going 5-for-5 with nine RBIs to lead the outburst, and junior Anthony Martelli picked up the win on the mound as the Spartans improved to 6-4. Senior Thomas Meaney had three hits and drove in four runs to lead the Falcons, who dipped to 2-6.

“We needed this one badly after losing three straight,” VSN coach Phil Sanfilippo said. “The kids came out focused and swinging. They realized we had to get back on track.”

The Spartans scored five times in the top of the first, surpassing their production from the previous two games combined, as junior James Capoziello set the tone with a leadoff double on a day when most innings featured offensive fireworks. Greg Garcia, Jeff Lantigua, Vasquez, and Brandon Salem all had run-scoring hits in their first trips to the plate.

After South answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, North came back with two runs in the second. It was 7-3 following a scoreless third, but then the Spartans got the lumber working again in the fourth with five runs including a three-run blast off the bat of Vasquez.

“I don’t have any historical records to check, but I’m sure there hasn’t been many nine-RBI games in North baseball history,” Sanfilippo said of Vasquez’s huge performance.

The Falcons came through with four runs of their own in the fourth, chasing winning pitcher Anthony Martelli in the process, but the flood gates opened in the top of the fifth when the visitors sent 16 batters to the plate and scored 11 times to lead 23-7. Vazquez had a two-run single and Martelli, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances and came around to score each time, cracked a two-run double. Salem added his third hit and third RBI.

“They’re a pretty good offensive team,” Sanfilippo said of South, which got three hits from senior Dan Goldman. “We just really had the bats going. It’s a little bit of a relief because we wanted to get that winning feeling back.”

North’s all-junior starting rotation of Martelli, Garcia and Kevin White gives it a chance to win every time it takes the field, Sanfilippo said. White has a 1.12 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 16 innings, Garcia a 1.93 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 18 innings, and Martelli three of its six victories.

Meaney has earned both of South’s wins, including a solid seven-strikeout effort April 16 in a 4-3 decision over Mineola. “Meaney’s our ace and he really gutted it out,” said Falcons coach Ken Ward, who noted freshman Tyler Gil’s performance on the mound in a 4-3 setback at Seaford two days later earned him a spot in the rotation.