Sweep puts VSN over .500

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Somewhere in the unwritten rules of baseball is the old adage you never want to make the last out of an inning at third base. Making the last out of a game at third, down by a run, is taking things to another level.

Left fielder Tom Canny came up firing after a Bethpage single and threw out the potential game-tying run at third in the top of the seventh to preserve Valley Stream North’s 8-7 victory in a Conference A-III baseball game on April 16. Senior Mike McGreevy applied the tag as the Spartans (5-4) completed a series sweep and moved above the .500 mark. It was the second assist of the day for Canny, who also had two doubles and scored twice.

“This is definitely huge,” VSN coach Phil Sanfilippo said. “We came in dealing with some adversity and with a record of 2-4, but we put together three strong games we really needed. Hopefully it’s a turning point.”

Freshman Jalen Bertie picked up the save in his first varsity appearance, allowing one unearned run in two innings. Senior TJ Magno started and logged the first five innings for the win, striking out five including the side in order in the fourth. Magno was staked to a 6-2 lead after two, thanks to a pair of RBIs apiece from seniors Julio Lizardo (team-leading .588 batting average) and Brian Carroll.

“TJ battled,” Sanfilippo said. “Bethpage is a good-hitting team.”

Magno, who is hitting .533, helped his own cause in the third, driving in Canny with a single to make it 7-3. The Golden Eagles scored three times in the fifth to cut the margin to 7-6, but North came up with an important insurance run in the bottom of the inning when sophomore John Calouri had a pinch-hit RBI double to bring home Canny.

Two days earlier, Calouri was solid on the mound and earned his first varsity win when the Spartans pulled out a 6-3 decision on the road. He took a shutout into the sixth and left with two outs and the tying run on base. Magno recorded a flyout to right to end the threat and then worked around a walk in the seventh to pick up the save.

“That was our best all-around game of the season,” Sanfilippo said. “We hadn’t hit, pitched and played great defense all on the same day. Our defense wasn’t up to par earlier in the year, but it’s coming around.” Senior Joe Ruscillo (.393 average) went 2-for-3, scored twice and knocked in a run to lead North’s offense, which scored in five of seven innings.

In the April 13 series opener, the Spartans rallied from a four-run deficit to win, 7-5. They scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by Calouri’s go-ahead two-run single. Sophomore Nick Casatelli pitched a complete game.

Next up for North is a three-game set against Floral Park. Sanfilippo is hopeful senior catcher Mike Challice can return from a knee injury after missing the Bethpage series. Junior outfielder Matt Cosme, one of the team’s leading hitters, filled in admirably behind the plate.

“There’s no team in this conference we can’t beat,” Sanfilippo said.