Ruth and Baldinger Lead Massapequa Coast to Victory

Brad Baldinger doubled and drove in three runs, and Tyler Ruth tossed three shutout innings on Thursday night in Massapequa Coast's 9-5 win over Merillon New Hyde Park in the 12-year old Sectionals at Burns Park.

The win, which was Massapequa's second in a row, was all about tacking on runs. After Matt Caminiti doubled and Matt Moreno singled in the second inning to get things started for Massapequa, Baldinger drove them in with a double.

"I haven't been hitting too good lately," Baldinger said. "I have been working on my swing and finally came through."

Massapequa Coast continued scoring in the third when Nick Armento singled, Ruth doubled, Matt Donofrio singled and Noah Lorenzo hit a sacrifice fly. Two more runs scored in the third on a Moreno single and a Connor Brennan single. That extended the lead to 5-0.

"Every inning, we just kept adding runs," Massapequa Coach Vinny Camarda said. "It gave us the flexibility to remove our number one starter and let some other guys pitch."

Tyler Ruth got off to a rough start, as James Messina singled and Giuseppe LoDuca doubled, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the threat and it was smooth sailing from there.

"I was nervous because it was my first start in Sectionals," Ruth said. "After I warmed up, I got loose and was ready to pitch."

Ruth scattered four hits over three shutout innings and struck out four, and Baldinger was very impressed with Ruth's work.

"He was hitting his spots," Baldinger said. "The ball was moving, and he did really well."

In the fourth, Nick Armento, who was 2-for-4, doubled in a run to extend the lead to 6-0.

"I felt pretty good," Armento said.  "It was nerve-racking to play another game, but I did well."

After Massapequa tacked on two more in the fifth, it seemed like the game was over at 8-0, but New Hyde Park did not go quietly. Both Peter Tagios and Brian Haug scored on an attempted double play turn, and that cut the lead to 8-2.

"We tried to come back," Tagios said. "But it just wasn't meant to be."

After Massapequa added another run in the sixth, New Hyde Park had one last retort. After a quick two runs were scored off of Greg Camarda, Brett Baker singled and Tagios drove him in. Messina walked, and with the tying run waiting in the on-deck circle, LoDuca struck out to end the game, 9-5.

"The boys were tired," New Hyde Park Coach Louis Messina said. "Our game against North Babylon didn't end until 10:30, and we slept too much. We should be back to good baseball on Saturday against East Meadow."

Massapequa heads out to Oakdale on Saturday for their third game. Although Camarda was proud of the way his team played, he knows there's always room for improvement.

"We need to tighten up our defense." Camarda said. "Other than that, we are playing great baseball."