Syosset Baseball Nabs Win Over Farmingdale

Syosset's baseball team rebounded from a slow start to beat Farmingdale 9-3 Thursday and improve to 3-6 in conference play.

"We had trouble getting our offense started early on," said coach Pat Fitzgerald, whose team trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third. "But we were able to get our bats going later in the game."

In the bottom of the third Nick Bilianis singled into shallow center. He was able to advance to second and then third after two throwing errors by the Farmingdale pitcher. Shortstop Mitch Hollander hit a sacrifice fly to bring Bilianis in and cut the deficit to 3-2. Justin Lipstein and Matt Cohen followed with singles, with Lipstein eventually scoring on an error to tie the game.

Pitcher Tommy Morris gave up a double to start off the fourth inning, but was able to strike out the next two batters. On his next pitch the umpire called a balk which allowed the runner to advance to third. It did not phase him, though, and he struck out the next batter in four pitches.

With the score tied going into the bottom of the sixth inning the Syosset bats really began to let loose. Dan Ventricelli led off by doubling into right field. Mike Caravella got on base after a wild pitch. He was replaced with speedy pinch runner Phil Scarangella. Syosset took a 4-3 lead after a single by Bobby Albanese brought Ventricelli home. Four more singles by Bilianis, Mike Gerardi, James Cohan and Hollander ballooned the score to 8-3. The icing on the cake was an RBI bunt by Lipstein.