Seaford bounced from playoffs

Vikings won conference title

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Seaford’s baseball team was unable to transform its near-perfect regular season into a long playoff run.

The top-seeded Vikings were eliminated from the Class A playoffs following an 8-4 loss to Floral Park on May 18 after entering the postseason with a 17-2 record. Seaford fell twice in a span of three days to the 18th-seeded Floral Park in the double-elimination tournament with the Vikings unable to generate their explosive regular season offense that averaged six runs a game.

“We never got any momentum offensively,” Seaford head coach Mike Milano said. “We just did not consistently hit like we had during the regular season.”

Seaford began the playoffs with a 5-1 setback to Floral Park on May 15 in which the Knights broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Michael Baldini. The Viking bats were silenced by a complete-game eight-strikeout performance tossed by Kyle Bacchus.

Facing elimination a day later, Seaford rebounded with a 2-1 win against Hewlett with Andrew Chiricio driving home the winning run with a sixth inning double that scored Mike Tito. A Carter Skretch RBI single in the second inning had given the Vikings a 1-0 lead and Zach Grof kept the Hewlett bats at bay with a complete game three-hitter.

“I was proud of how the guys responded against Hewlett after a tough loss the day before,” Milano said. “They really responded.”

Facing another elimination game in a rematch with Floral Park on Thursday, the Knights took control with a five-run fourth inning for a 7-1 lead en route to handing the Vikings a season-ending 8-4 defeat. St. Johns-bound Chris Stefl went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and pitcher Chris Leary held the Viking bats in check.

“We just never going the bats going,” Milano said. ‘Floral Park made all the plays.”

Despite the disappointment of a quick playoff exit, Milano is proud of what the team accomplished in achieving the program’s first number one seed this century.  Seaford won 11 in a row heading into the playoffs.

“We had a tremendous regular season,” Milano said. “We had a month and a half of playing tremendous baseball.”

Seaford was rewarded for its successful regular season with several award winners including senior pitcher A.J. capturing the League A-V Player of the Year after winning four games on the mound while also producing at the plate. Cain, Grof and catcher Vincent Pecora earned All-County accolades with Nick Calandra receiving All Conference honors. Senior Mike Tito was also named to the All-League A-V team following a successful spring on offense and also stepping in as pitcher to record two wins.  

Seaford graduates key seniors, but will return plenty of talent such as Pecora, and Calandra, who produced big junior seasons. The Vikings have now made 15 straight playoff appearances and Milano expects another big spring in 2018.

“We have a lot of good players coming back,” Milano said. ‘We’re not going anywhere.”