Sports
Wantagh Baseball Edges Garden City in Extra Innings
Dom Desiderio drives in winning run for Warriors in ninth inning.
A day after giving up 18 runs the Wantagh baseball team rebounded in a big ay by jumping out to a 5-1 lead and eventually besting conference rival Garden City 6-5 in extra innings.
The Warriors got a big boost from starting pitcher Kevin Specht, who kept the Trojan batters off balance. Specht was cruising along until James Cauchi hit a two-run home run in the fifth to bring the score to 5-3, putting the idea of a comeback in the Trojan’s head. Ryan Cacchioli had four hits and scored the winning run in the ninth on a hit from Dom Desiderio as he narrowly beat a Scott Conetta throw from left field.
Wantagh coach Kevin Sachs said all along that if he team could keep the game close, they would stand a good chance of winning.
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“This was a real baseball game, it’s hard to play competitive or strategic baseball when you get blown out early like we did yesterday,” he said. “We did a good job of getting up early and they did an equally great job of fighting back all game. It’s a lot more fun when it’s a close game like this was.”
Garden City had their chances to win the game late. After Samardich’s heroics in the seventh, the Trojans got a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth. Rich D’Angelo was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Shaun Milito. After Dan Muller flew out to center, the Warriors intentionally walked co-captain Frank Cordio to set up the double play. With two men on, Mike Borges responded accordingly, hitting into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
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The Trojans would again get two runners on in the bottom of the ninth while they were down 6-5, but Samardich struck out and Matt Packman flew to right field to end the comeback attempt.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t get good at bats after we got our base runners on,” said Garden City head coach Rich Smith said. “It was a courageous comeback, and we had our chances, we just missed the big hit on this day. I hope we can finish strong and win tomorrow [at Wantagh at 5 p.m.] and go into the playoffs with some momentum.”
