Pirates starting to swing heavy bats

Mepham’s rounding into form on the baseball diamond, and the driving force is no surprise to anyone on the team.

The Pirates (4-6 overall, 4-5 in Conference AA-I) totaled 22 runs in consecutive victories over Oceanside (8-4) and Freeport (14-9), thanks in large part to the six home runs generated by four players.

“It was a little concerning in the beginning [of the season] that we weren’t pushing across runs like we could,” Mepham coach Bill Murphy said. “When you don’t hit, you tend to get a little frustrated and press a little bit. When one guy starts hitting it takes the pressure off of everyone else.”

Senior J.C. Brandmaier blasted a pair of long balls in the two games and drove in a total of eight runs, including four with a second inning grand slam against the Sailors on April 22 that gave the Pirates an early 5-0 lead. Senior Mike Spadaro (two), seniors Stephen Luczaj and Jason D’auria also went deep in the two victories.

Luczaj turned in his best performance to date on the mound, allowing just one hit in six innings of work before giving way to junior Greg Licausi, who closed out the Oceanside win by snuffing out a potential rally. “He controlled the strike zone and kept guys off-balance,” Murphy said of Luczaj who struck out one. “He became more of a pitcher and forced guys to swing out of their comfort zone,” Murphy said.

Senior Matt Dato started the opener against Freeport on Apr. 19, a 6-5 loss, but lasted just one inning. He returned to the mound the next day in relief against nearly the same lineup, however, and evened the score. “He shut them down and earned the win,” Murphy said.

The one-run loss in the series opener to the Red Devils could have been disastrous from a confidence standpoint, if only because the Pirates gave up the game-winning runs in the top of the seventh. The bounce back with consecutive wins only showed the type of resiliency Mepham has. In evening the series with Freeport, the Pirates scored in six of the seven innings.

“The lineup is so complete top to bottom that every day it’s pretty much someone new [stepping up],” Murphy said, also noting recent contributions from seniors Doug Marshall and Mike Woolfson.

In a series split with Calhoun the previous week, Luczaj hit two homers in a 10-6 loss and junior Billy Ruvolo homered in a 9-5 victory. The Pirates also split with rival Kennedy, with Marshall homering and capping a 3-2 win in the second game with a single that scored Woolfson   in the bottom of the eighth.

Three of the top four seeds in Conference AA-I remain on Mepham’s schedule: Carey, Massapequa and MacArthur. Carey visits on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.