A Blue and White Championship: Calhoun Baseball Surges Back From Seven Down to Take County Title

The Calhoun High School baseball team trailed top-seeded MacArthur 7-0 heading into the sixth inning last night.

The Generals, riding stud pitcher Josh Barry all game long, found themselves six outs from taking all of the momentum heading into a decisive game three of the Class AA county finals. 

But not this time.  Not last night.  Not this year. 

The county title was destined for the boys dressed in blue and white.

The Colts used an eight-run sixth inning to edge the Generals, 8-7, and take home their first county title since 2002.

"I am so proud of these kids," Calhoun coach Joe Corea said after the game at Farmingdale State College.  "They just never give up."

The second-seeded Colts trailed 7-0 going into the home half of the sixth, but then they launched a rally of epic proportions. After failing to do much of anything against Barry during the first five innings, Calhoun got two runners on with a walk and a hit batter.

Frank Trimarco then singled in the first run, and then the Colts loaded the bases when Mike Scrow dropped a fly ball to right center. The second run scored when Tom Viverito grounded into a fielder's choice.

Zach Goldstein kept the merry-go-round going with an RBI single of his own, and then, after John Eyerman flew out, Dan Sullivan was hit by a pitch, which brought up Ryan Kass with the bases loaded.

Kass fell behind in the count, but he kept battling. He fouled off a couple of tough pitches before getting one he could handle. He was able to ground one up the middle to score two to cut the MacArthur lead to 7-5.

"I honestly thought I was going to get a hit until the second strike," Kass said. "But I kept fighting and he left it up, and I was able to put it through."

Following Kass, Jake Thomas was walked for the third time of the day and the sixth in the series, and that brought up Robbie Rosen with the bases loaded.

MacArthur countered with left hander Andrew Mege, and he got Rosen to hit a shallow fly ball that tipped off of a sprawling Rob Gaertner's glove for a three-run double, and that would put the Colts ahead for good.

"I thought he was going to catch it," Rosen said. "I was praying that he didn't, and I am happy it worked out for us."

Joey Saladino, who had been holding the fort for the previous two innings, came out to pitch the top of the seventh, and he induced three ground balls to end the series.

"Once we scored those runs, I knew I had to win it for the team," Saladino said. "It felt like it was an obligation that I needed to get done."

John Mekelburg got the start for Calhoun, and he battled throughout as he allowed five runs, three of which were earned. He also allowed three hits and walked five. Mekelburg knew that he wasn't on his game.

"When you don't have your best stuff, you need to make sure that you keep your team in the game," Mekelburg said. "I didn't have great command of my pitches, but I was able to prevent things from getting out of hand."

For MacArthur, Barry was phenomenal for the first five frames, allowing no runs on four hits while striking out five, but it all came to a screeching halt in the sixth. The left hander gave up eight runs, although only two were earned.

The difference seemed to be command. Barry, who wasn't throwing very hard, lost control of his slider, which had been his bread and butter pitch all night.

One player who had a solid series for Calhoun was Thomas. He had eight plate appearances and reached every time, including two singles and six walks, and he at a loss for words about the win.

"It's unbelievable," Thomas said. "We have been working so hard for this, and it has finally paid off."

The Colts lost both regular season games to MacArthur before taking game one of the finals on Monday, 7-3.

Calhoun now moves on to play Sunday at 6:30 p.m. for the Long Island Class AA title against Lindenhurst, who won their series against Longwood on Wednesday.

Thomas believes that the key is confidence heading into Sunday's game at Farmindale State.

"We need to believe in ourselves," Thomas said. "If we do that, we can do anything."

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