Long Beach serving notice

Picking up where it left off last season when it caught fire down the stretch and qualified for the Nassau Class AA baseball playoffs, Long Beach bolted to an eye-opening start in Conference AA-III with five wins in its first six games.

The Marines (7-2 overall) followed a three-game sweep of Elmont in the conference-opening series by taking two of three against Herricks last week, setting them up for a big playoff push despite nine tough games remaining.

“We started conference play just the way we hoped,” coach Jason Zizza said. “We knew the first two series were going to be important. Going 5-1 and being able to carry over the success and confidence from last year is great. We wanted to play meaningful games against the top-ranked teams.”

Junior Andrew Klang pitched a gem last Saturday and was supported by home runs off the bats of seniors Michael Heiss and Matthew Levy as Long Beach took the rubber game against Herricks, 7-1. Klang went six innings and allowed no earned runs, four hits and three walks. Heiss hit a two-run homer in the top of the third to put the visitors ahead for good. Levy had a solo blast in the fifth.

“It was a pivotal game,” Zizza said. “We lost the series opener, which was back-and-forth, but came back in Game 2. We didn’t want to give up the momentum we took back.”

Junior Conor Lieberman earned the win in Long Beach’s 6-2 victory in the middle game of the series, the back end of a doubleheader, on April 17. He struck out seven and walked one while going the distance in a five-hitter. The key hit came in the fifth inning when senior Anthony Bianchini roped a two-run triple, bringing home junior Amarali Kahn and senior Sam Berk.

Bianchini, Khan and junior Tim Brosnan (out indefinitely with an injury) are swinging hot bats, Zizza said. Bianchini (13 hits in 24 at-bats) entered this week’s series against first-place Mepham with a team-leading 13 RBIs and 10 runs. Khan, who is 16-for-36, has 12 RBIs and nine runs, and Brosnan is a sizzling 9-for-15 with nine RBIs. As a team, the Marines were hitting .305 through nine games.

Long Beach produced 37 runs in the Elmont series, including 16 in the conference opener on April 9. Bianchini had four RBIs to back the pitching of senior Vinny McParland, who has been nothing short of lights-out this spring with three wins and a sparkling 0.73 ERA. McParland allowed three hits and three walks and struck out nine Spartans.

In the middle game of the Elmont series, junior Eric Zeppa led the hit parade with three and Brosnan homered in a 14-4 triumph. Brosnan also came through in the clutch in the series finale, hitting a two-run double in the fifth to highlight a 7-4 comeback win. Junior Andrew Luisi had two hits and scored twice, and Klang scattered five hits and struck out nine. 

“Our junior pitchers have really stepped up,” Zizza said.