Clarke falls on controversial walk-off balk

One of the most exciting Long Island baseball championship games in quite some time ended in atypical fashion and not without controversy on a picture-perfect Saturday at Middle Country Park in Selden.

Kings Park defeated Clarke, 3-2, in nine innings for the L.I. Class A title, getting the winning run on a balk with two outs. It was the 15th straight victory for the Kingsmen, who led by a run after six innings but trailed by one entering the bottom of the ninth.

The Rams forced extra innings on senior Jaret Sarrantonio’s RBI single in the top of the seventh and led 2-1 in the ninth after senior Giancarlo Rengifo doubled home sophomore Alex Frank.

But Kings Park loaded the bases with one out and tied it on a single to center by catcher Vincenzo Buffalino. On the first pitch to Everett Zarzicki, Clarke’s pitcher was called for a balk by one of the infield umpires, allowing Mitchell Landau to score the championship-winning run.

“All of my playing days and coaching days, going back over 40 years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Clarke coach Tom Abruscato said. “It stinks. The balk leaves a bad taste, but we could’ve done other things leading up to it where it wouldn’t have come down to that call.”

Pitching and incredible defensive plays ruled the day. Clarke senior Nick Berasti, making his third start in a week, and Kings Park senior Hunter Colagrande threw 125 and 117 pitches, respectively, and neither factored in the decision.

Kings Park (22-2) will face Section V champion Sutherland or Section VI winner Amherst Central in the state semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Union-Endicott High School. The Rams finished 22-5.

“Both pitchers are studs and were able to get out of jams,” Abruscato said. “There were some timely hits here and there, but when you have pitchers of that caliber on the mound, they’re going to strand runners.”

Berasti, who pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 3 of the Nassau Class A championship series against Wantagh five days earlier, went 6 2/3rds with four hits allowed and four strikeouts. He escaped bases-loaded situations in the second and third innings, and allowed one run in the fifth.

“We’re not county champs without him,” Abruscato said of Berasti.

Frank threw out Kings Park’s Brandon Hauk at the plate from left field in the fifth to keep the deficit at 1-0. That highlight-reel throw to junior AJ Cumbo at the plate came an inning after Zarzicki did the same for the Kingsmen to keep the game scoreless.

Michael Iadevaia, one of Clarke’s five sophomores in the starting lineup, singled to lead off the top of the seventh, took second on a wild pitch and scored the tying run. The Rams left the bases juiced in the inning and also put runners on the corners in the eighth with one out.