Pirates take series from VSC

Strong defense and timely hitting led Mepham to victory over visiting Valley Stream Central, 6-1, in a late-morning Conference AA-III baseball game last Thursday. The game was the rubber match in a three-game series after the two teams split the first two earlier in the week.

Jordan Gilroy started the game for Mepham (2-4 in conference play, 3-7 overall) and pitched six strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out five batters while scattering eight hits.

“This is the type of performance we expect from him every time he takes the mound,” Mepham coach Bill Murphy said of Gilroy. “We all have confidence in him, and for good reason.”

Mepham jumped on the board early, taking advantage of three Valley Stream Central (1-5 in conference play, 1-9 overall) errors to score three unearned runs off of pitcher Matthew Filliolt, who allowed six runs – only three earned – in a complete game loss.

In the second inning, after Gilroy drew a two-out walk, right fielder Nick White hit the longest ball of the game, sending a pitch opposite way over the right field fence for a two-run homer run to give Mepham a five-run lead.

The Eagles accumulated base runners throughout the game, but was unable to get on the board until the sixth inning, when Michael Russo hit an RBI single to score Filliolt. Valley Stream nearly scored more on the base hit, but Mepham third basemen Dom Manzella cut off right fielder Nick Appel’s throw and threw a perfect strike to catcher John Frisolone to nail Steven Puccio at the plate.

“With our outfield arms, we’re very comfortable with any of those guys we have there,” Murphy said. “We worked on it, we executed, and that’s all you can really ask for.”

Gilroy then got Michael Tasick to strike out looking with runners on second and third to end the threat.

“I felt pretty good right from the start,” said Gilroy. “My curveball was really good. After the first ball I threw, I knew it was going to be a good day with it.”

It marked the third time in the game that Central stranded multiple runners on base to end an inning.

“I thought we played really well,” Eagles coach Frank Alesia said. “We just had a little bit of untimely hitting. With the exception of that first inning, our defense was good, and I think we could have won this game.”

Chris Brucato replaced Gilroy in the final inning and pitched a scoreless inning to end the game.

“We’re playing much better than we were even a week ago,” said Murphy. “We put ourselves in a position where we really have to play our best every game in order to make the playoffs. So that’s what we did today.”

The Pirates won the middle game, 12-5, the previous day behind the pitching of Greg Licausi, who scattered six hits, and hitting of Gilroy, who had three hits and scored three times. They face Long Beach in a three-game set this week.