East Rockaway Rocks reached baseball semis

An up-and-down baseball season came to an end for East Rockaway as the Rocks fell to Locust Valley in the best-of-three semifinal round of the Nassau County Class B playoffs. 

The Falcons won the opener 5-2 on their home turf, and then finished off the series with a 7-3 victory at Malverne High School, which served as the Rocks home for the playoffs. East Rockaway finished with an overall record of 10-12, 9-8 in Conference BC-II play.

The Rocks advanced to the semifinals with a dramatic 5-4 road victory over Cold Spring Harbor. Senior Billy Humes, who earned All-Conference recognition for the second consecutive year, went the distance on the mound to pick up the win, and knocked in the tying and winning runs in the top of the seventh inning.  

East Rockaway took a 3-0 lead and appeared to be sailing along, but the Seahawks fought back and took their first lead in the bottom of the sixth. 

Reliever Jack Walter retired the first two batters to face him in the top of the seventh. With the Rocks down to their final strike, senior Cameron Ralph worked out a 10-pitch walk after falling behind 0-2. After Ralph stole second, Walter walked senior David McClure, setting the stage for Humes.

Humes, who finished with a .440 batting average, bounced a 1-1 pitch up the middle to score Ralph and McClure to give East Rockaway a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Humes faced Cold Spring Harbor’s top hitter Josh Brown with the tying run on base and two out. He got Brown to roll a grounder to third, which junior Patrick Kelly fired across the diamond for the final out.

Despite falling the semifinals, head coach James Hickey was pleased with the season, especially in light of the fact that the effects of Hurricane Sandy made scheduling a bit chaotic. “I thought the guys did a tremendous job of dealing with a lot of challenges,” Hickey said. “We practiced at different fields, and had to take buses all over the place. There was never a complaint. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

In addition to Humes picking up All Conference honors, McClure, who led the team with a .470 average, earned All-County recognition for the second straight season, Ralph was named an All-League honoree, and junior Damian Amirudden, who hit .407, earned All-Conference.  Senior infielder Anthony Filoteo batted .306 for the Rocks.

Ben Giliberti, Chris Mulato, Thomas Scagnelli, Vincent Guida, Dylan Delury, and Eddie Carneglia all played their final game at East Rockaway.

Hickey feels the program is going in the right direction. “We’re going to miss the 10 seniors that are graduating,” Hickey said. “They weren’t just talented baseball players, they were guys who displayed good character. We’re going to be very young next season, but we’re going to continue to build the program.”