Eagles finally get it together

After a miserable start that included six straight losses to Conference AA-II rivals, Valley Stream Central is beginning to do the little things it takes to win baseball games. Clutch hitting and solid defense sparked it to a series sweep of Syosset and a split with Port Washington in consecutive weeks.

“The kids worked hard during the offseason and it was very frustrating for everyone to start like we did,” Eagles coach Frank Alesia said. “They didn’t get too down, and I kept telling them to plug away and the wins would come. We are finally starting to hit, pitch and play defense all on the same day.”

Central’s long-anticipated first conference victory came April 22 at Firemen’s Field against Syosset as senior pitcher Joe Quagliata struck out six in a 7-5 decision. He got offensive support from senior John Labeck, who knocked in two runs, and junior Matt Filiault, who had three hits and drove in a run. “That first win gave us new life,” Alesia said. “It jump-started everyone. The bad breaks that happened to us in the first three series went against the other team for a change.”

Senior Nick Russo, the team’s ace on the mound and MVP according to Alesia, dazzled in a 6-1 win at Syosset on April 26. He tossed a complete game with six strikeouts and went 2-for-5 with a pair of stolen bases. Labeck had a three-hit day and drove in two runs. “The Syosset series was by far our best all year,” Alesia said. “We hit the ball, were aggressive on the bases and got big outs in the field. We didn’t give them any extra outs.”

The high point for the Eagles (4-8 overall) thus far came against Port Washington on April 28. They prevailed, 11-10, in eight innings, after scoring the first four runs and leading 8-5 heading into the bottom of the fifth. “It was a crazy game,” Alesia said.

Down to their final out, the Vikings forced extra innings when Robbie Levinger singled home a run to make it 8-8. Central then scored three in the top of the eighth, all with two outs. Senior J.C. Mendoza and Russo drew walks to set the table for Labeck, who cracked a two-run triple giving him four RBIs on the day. Labeck scored on senior catcher Brian Perez’s single. Port opened the bottom of the inning with three straight singles to load the bases and got a one-out, two-run hit by Ethan Sander to get within 11-10. With the tying run on third, Filiault got a pop out to Quagliata at third and then struck out Levinger to end it.

“It was getting dark during the top of the eighth,” Alesia said. “There was no way we could play another inning.”

The Vikings took the series finale last Friday, 7-5, but the Eagles didn’t go down without a fight. They scored four times in their final at-bat and brought the potential tying run to the plate.

“We’ve got five games to go,” Alesia said. “I’d like to see us win four.”