Calhoun wins L.I. title in thriller

Swinging at the first pitch he saw from Thunderbirds reliever Brian McKean, Vargas drove in junior Tommy Murphy and senior Jon Goldberg with the tying and game-winning runs.

It was the second L.I. title since 2002 for Calhoun (23-3 overall), which advanced to the New York State tournament.

“We knew what we had to do and we did it together,” Vargas said. “I knew he was throwing a fastball, so I sat on it and crushed it.”

Control issues plagued McKean in the ninth, as he issued walks to both Goldberg and senior Frank Trimarco after singles by senior catcher Alex Rodriguez and Murphy to start the rally. After lining a single to right field on a 2-0 pitch to open the bottom of the ninth, Rodriguez narrowly escaped being hit by a groundball single to right by Murphy, and advanced to third when Goldberg walked. Rodriguez dashed home to score on a wild pitch with Trimarco at the plate to close the gap to one run.

“Everyone in the lineup just keeps scrapping,” coach Joe Corea said. “They never want to give up.”

Through eight innings, Calhoun had managed just two hits, but the bats came alive after Connetquot broke through for two runs in the top of the ninth thanks to two Colts errors. Vargas relieved Trimarco, who pitched the first eight innings and scattered nine hits with two walks and nine strikeouts, to open the ninth and immediately fell behind, as Casey Baker and Jeff Scala reached base on errors and came around to score on a single and a fielder’s choice. Vargas managed to induce another fielder’s choice and a grounder back to the mound to end what could have been an even bigger inning for the Thunderbirds.

“This team just has so much chemistry,” Trimarco said.