Seaford, Wantagh riding momentum

The annual Wantagh-Seaford non-league baseball game last Saturday under the lights at Farmingdale State College concluded a successful week for both teams as they hit the home stretches of their regular seasons.

Seaford (9-4) on the strength of some balanced hitting a pitching gem tossed by Lucas Hall and Mike Scully propelled the Vikings to a 7-1 win against their neighbors to the west to finish off a 3-1 week that included taking two-of-three from Locust Valley. Wantagh (6-6-1), which earlier Saturday defeated Jericho 7-3 in a makeup game, saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.

Hall and Scully combined on a six-hitter against Wantagh and along with Anthony Amarante have given Seaford depth on the pitcher’s mound in 2014. Hall and Amarante shined in Seaford’s semifinal run while Scully was the top pitcher on JV in 2013.

“Those three guys are big tall guys and when they are straightening it on the mound and keep it down, they are tough to hit,” said Milano of his main pitchers. “We have been pitching all season the way we want to pitch.”

In addition to pitching three scoreless innings to start the game, Hall went 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI single against Wantagh. Jake Doyle and Antony Gallo also produced two hits

Wantagh was missing its starting shortstop and top hitter Zachary Shindler against Seaford due to an illness and head coach Keith Sachs used the non-league game to try and play much of his roster. Right fielder Michael O’Hara registered two hits including an RBI single in the sixth inning that produced Wantagh’s lone run. Starting pitcher Andrew Semler battled against a tough Seaford lineup to keep the Warriors in the game.

In addition to Shindler, who is batting over .400, Wantagh’s offense in 2014 has been driven largely by Gehrig Montoro, the lone returning starter from last year’s 19-2 team, along with Lou Doria and J.T. Haas, who each had to hits in the Warriors’ 7-3 win against Jericho Saturday morning. Head coach Keith Sachs said his pitching has been key with a deep starting rotation that has featured Shawn Klotsche, Alec Guerin, Jimmy Murphy and Will O’Brien.

“Out pitching has been great,” said Sachs. “I am very happy where we are at now.” 

Wantagh and Seaford both have postseason aspirations and could meet in the Class A playoffs next month. Wantagh is in third place in Conference A-1 with Seaford second in Conference A-4. The top four teams in each league make the 16-team playoffs.

Wantagh concludes the regular season with three-game sets against Bellmore-JFK and New Hyde Park, while Seaford finished against Clarke and Island Trees.

“I think they have a lot of confidence with pitching and defense so they just need to have a little more confidence offensively,” Milano said. “The one thing that is really, really tough to coach is hitting in the clutch and if we can do that the next couple weeks we are going to be tough to beat.”