Massapequa Baseball Edged Out by Defending Champion Calhoun

On Tuesday, two teams in the Massapequa Chiefs and the Calhoun Colts, who have combined to win the last five Nassau County titles, met in a highly anticipated non-league match up.

Calhoun won the County title last year before falling to Lindenhurst in the Long Island championship. Massapequa won the New York state title in 2006 and won the County and Long Island titles from 2007 to 2009.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Colts (2-0) got the best of the Chiefs (1-1) on the road by a score of 4-1. Frank Trimarco pitched a solid game for Calhoun, going five innings while giving up just two hits and one run including hitting a two-run triple in the fourth inning.

Massapequa pitcher Eric Amato had the start he was looking for, surrendering just one hit over the first three innings while striking out two, but Trimarco matched him pitch for pitch, giving up a single hit over three innings as well.

In the top of the fourth, Jake Thomas led off for Calhoun with a single followed by a stolen base. Tom Viverito batted in the first run of the game with a single to score Thomas. Trimarco then came up and hit the big two-run triple to deep left.

Down by three, Massapequa made up some ground in the bottom half of the inning after Nick Evangelista hit an RBI groundout to score Anthony Beilman, who hit a double to lead off the inning.

Robbie Rosen belted a triple to left to score Thomas, who finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Calhoun led 4-1 after the inning and sent in Alex Vargas to finish the final two innings.

Vargas struck out three Chiefs and surrendered just one walk and no hits to pick up the save and help Calhoun win the big non-league game early in the season.

Heroes: Frank Trimarco did it all for Calhoun, pitching a strong five innings and picking up two RBI in the process to pick up the win.

“Throughout the innings, I got looser and looser and kept the ball down against them and kept them off-balanced,” Trimarco said. “Our team can score runs and hit the ball. With my hit, I just had to wait for the right pitch and get it.”

Turning Point: In what started as a pitching duel between Trimarco and Amato, the three-run fourth inning got Calhoun ahead and put Massapequa in a hole on a day where the bats seemed quiet for them.

Quotable: "Our pitching was good today with Trimarco then Vargas coming in and shutting it down. We hit the ball pretty well today as well," Calhoun head coach Joe Corea said. "We made a couple of baserunning mistakes that we need to correct, but we will be good down the road."

"Their pitcher threw a good game, mixing up speeds, and you don't always get to see a lot of lefties, so we had a different look," Massapequa head coach Tom Sheedy said. "It is still early in the season with this non-league game, but we obviously have work to do. We are a work in progress."

Bottom Line: It is possible that these two teams could meet somewhere down the road in the playoffs. Calhoun and Massapequa both have the adequate tools to win in their selective conferences this season as well. 

Key Stat: Calhoun scattered seven hits against three Massapequa pitchers, while they only gave up the two hits during the third and fourth innings.

Who’s Next: Calhoun vs. Baldwin, April 7^th, 4:00 p.m.; Massapequa vs. Freeport, April 8^th, 4:15 p.m.

Box Score:

WP- Trimarco, LP- Amato, S- Vargas