Jets Top Vikings in Baseball, 12-1

The East Meadow Jets, a team known mostly for defense and solid fundamental baseball, showed off its power en route to a 12-1 win over Port Washington at  Tuesday afternoon.

The Jets now need to win one of their final two games against the Vikings to advance to the playoffs.

"We played a solid game," East Meadow Coach Ken Sicoli said. "But the job's not done. We need to get one more."

Hero: East Meadow's Rob Franzese. East Meadow took an early lead in the first when Chris Mancino singled in Rob Healy with two outs. Then accomplished a rare feat. He allowed three hits in the second, the third one being a double, but Port Washington failed to score. Mike Weiss singled and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Max Mancher, who was pitching for the Vikings, singled to right to help his own cause, but Rob Bocchetti thew a frozen rope to the plate to nail Weiss. Robert Sexton then doubled, and Mancher crossed the plate, but the umpire sent him back when the ball went under the outfield fence. Franzese then took advantage of the second chance and got out of trouble.

"He didn't have his good stuff early," Sicoli said. "But he never walks anyone and manages to get the job done. It was big for us."

Turning Point: East Meadow really took off in the second inning, as five straight one-out hits scored four runs. Cody Zafron and Anthony DiTomasso each drove in runs with triples, and Marvin Cajoles added an RBI single in the frame. After there were two outs, Mancino singled in his second run of the game.

"We kept the run going," Zafron, a freshman, said. "That's what you need to do."

While the Jets kept on hitting, Franzese was effectively hittable. He scattered eight hits through his five innings of work. He also struck out three and walked none.

The Jets struck with another two-out hit in the third, as Rob Healy smacked an RBI triple. Healy was 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored on the afternoon.

"This was a big win for us," Healy said. "We got a lot of big hits, but now it's time to knuckle down and win tomorrow and make the playoffs."

Already up 7-0, the Jets put up a five spot in the fourth that put the game away for good. Six of the first seven hitters to hit in the frame reached, with RBIs coming from Fran Borrelli, Healy, Franzese and Zafron. Port Washington was kept relatively quiet until Aaron Feinberg tripled and stole home in the seventh.

Quotable: "We had our chances," Port Washington Coach Matt Holzer said. "The bottom line is...we need to play better."

Max Mancher didn't fair very well for the Vikings, as he allowed 12 runs on 16 hits through four-plus innings of work. He struck out two and walked one in the effort.

The two teams will go head-to-head in round two of their battle on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. in Port Washington. The series will wrap up the same time on Wednesday at EMHS.

"I told them to enjoy it for the next couple of hours," Sicoli said. "But tomorrow, we need to forget it and get back to work."

Key Stat: The Jets had four players score two runs apiece in the game.

Bottom Line: Port Washington will make the playoffs if it sweeps Tuesday and Wednesday's games against the Jets.

Who's Next: The Vikings take on the Jets in Port Washington at at 4:45.