A Win Away: Colts Baseball Can Capture County Title Tonight After 7-3 Game One Win Over MacArthur

"Don't play his game."

Those were the words Calhoun baseball coach Mike Marino used recently when referring to MacArthur's Frankie Vanderka, who brought a 5-1 record with a 0.49 ERA to Farmingdale State College on Monday afternoon.

Calhoun took their coach's advice as the Colts combined solid starting pitching with timely hitting to take game one of the Nassau Class AA finals over the top-seeded Generals, 7-3.

Joe Christopher took the hill for Calhoun, and he allowed just three runs in six-plus innings of work. He also struck out four and walked just two.

Christopher also contributed with his defense. With a runner on first and one out in the bottom of the first inning, Vanderka hit a pop up, and the ball popped out of Frank Trimarco's mitt, but Christopher was able to snag it before it hit the ground, and the Colts were able to turn the double play.

"Joe pitched a great game," Marino said. "He came out and he shut them down. He gave us a real chance to win."

Christopher exited with runners on the corners and nobody out in the seventh, but Mike Simon came in and closed the door for Calhoun, ensuring their victory in game one of the series. While he admitted he was losing a little bit of gas, Christopher was happy with the way he pitched.

"I felt pretty good today," Christopher said. "Everything was working and I was hitting my spots."

The second-seeded Colts came out of the gate with a patient attitude. They waited on Vanderka, and a couple of opportunities arose because of it. After walking two on the frame, Vanderka got Trimarco to pop up to short to end the threat, stranding two aboard. In the second, the Colts would have a chance again.

After Tom Viverito hit a one-out double, he made a mistake. Viverito tried to advance on a ground ball in front of him, and he was thrown out, and that ended the threat.

The Colts decided to change the program when they came to the plate in the third. After taking a lot of pitches early in the game, they decided to swing early and often...and it definitely paid off.

Dan Sullivan got it started with a single on a tough two strike pitch, and then the merry-go-round was put in motion.

"I felt like a true leadoff hitter," Sullivan said. "It's my job to get the inning started and I definitely did."

After Ryan Kass flew out, Jake Thomas singled to put runners on the corners, and then Robbie Rosen singled in Sullivan for the Colts' first run of the game.

"You can't try to do too much," Rosen said. "You just need to keep the swings short and make contact, and we did."

After Rosen came through, Trimarco followed suit with the longest hit ball of the day. Trimarco drove one more than 320 feet to left field, and the ball went off of the top of the wall for an RBI double.  Trimarco was surprised at how well the ball carried.

"I knew that he was working me outside," he said of Vanderka.  "I sat on the pitch and I knew I gave it a nice ride, but I didn't think that it would go that far."

Alex Ras would follow, and although he only had one hit in the game, he picked a big time to provide it. Ras blooped a two-run single to give his team a 4-0 lead after three. The Colts added an insurance run in the fourth when Rosen walked with the bases loaded, and that increased the lead to 5-0.

"It's important to know that a walk is as good as a hit," Rosen said. "In that spot, it's huge, because every run counts."

The lead would increase to 6-0 when Sullivan doubled in Goldstein in the fifth, and then, MacArthur ended the shutout. Vanderka came up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom half of the inning, and he grounded into a fielder's choice, which plated the Generals' first run. Christopher buckled down and got Mario Angieri to pop out to center field to end the threat.

"Calhoun played excellent," MacArthur coach Steve Costello said. "All we have to do is keep playing baseball like we did all year, and we'll be fine."

Jake Thomas pushed the lead to 7-1 in the sixth when he scored on a wild pitch, and then Mike Simon provided some nice relief in the seventh, inducing a pretty 6-4-3 double play from Angieri to end the game.

"It's still a series," Marino said. "They have a great pitcher in [Josh] Barry going tomorrow. He throws hard, and you never know what's going to happen."

Barry will be opposed by John Mekelburg for the Colts with the first pitch to be thrown at 7 p.m. tonight in game two at Farmingdale.  

A MacArthur win would force a decisive game three on Thursday, but the Colts would much rather wake up tomorrow morning as the new county champions.