A Home Away From Home: Port Washington Baseball Wins Big at MCU Park in Brooklyn

At least for one game, the Schreiber Vikings varsity baseball team said goodbye to its dusty home field at Guggenheim Elementary School and was greeted by fresh-cut grass, an in-ground dugout and a perfectly groomed mound.

Coach Matt Holzer told his players to "relax, enjoy it and have fun out there" prior to taking the field at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones. "It's no different than Guggenheim, I know it seems like it is," Holzer said. "I just told [starting pitcher Jacob Schuckman] to go out there with the same mentality, keep your emotions under control and just throw strikes."

Schuckman said he never had an experience like this and that playing at a professional ballpark gave him an extra boost while pitching.

"The mound was a lot better than we play on anywhere," said Schuckman who didn't allow a run in three innings of work with four strikeouts and five runners left on base. "You get a little extra bump in your step when you step onto a field like this."

Besides the team's stellar pitching, the theme of the day was hits, hits, and more hits for the Vikings in their 12-3 victory over the Manhasset Indians on Saturday afternoon. The non-league contest saw gap-splitting base knocks, streamlined singles and a home run over the WFAN-660 A.M. sign in left field.

The Blue and White compiled 13 hits on the day including the big blast from Paul Mills in the fourth inning.

Mills stepped to the plate and quickly swung and missed at two strikes putting himself in a bit of a hole. The next swing was nothing short of Ruthian. Mills crushed an inside fastball off Manhasset left-hander Billy Riggins over the left-field wall, 315 feet away.

"It was great," Mills said. "First at-bat, first start on varsity, it was great — fantastic."

Mills also toed the rubber on the afternoon. "It was difficult," he said. "A lot of pressure being my first [outing]. I just tried to settle down. The mound was perfect. It was just a perfect day."

Not only was the day perfect, but the Vikings remained perfect on the season as well, improving their record to 2-0 in Conference AA-II and 5-0 overall.

"Everyone was making plays," Schuckman said. "It was really fun out there today."

Holzer added, "We came out, swung the bats well, we pitched well and the big number is the zero errors today."

Following a win last season over Cold Spring Harbor at Richmond County Stadium, home of the Staten Island Yankees, Holzer said this year's game was better in every way.

"This was a better experience," the coach said. "More people showed up this time, it was nice. Even the kids were saying it felt more like a real game this time and last year felt more like a scrimmage. ... This was definitely a first-class experience."

The Vikings headed back home to Guggenheim Elementary as they took on the Plainview-JFK Hawks in league action this afternoon.