By ANDREW McCLURE
Well, the Mules took their coach’s advice and found themselves in the Nassau Class B semifinal series facing Cold Spring Harbor. However, dreams of a third consecutive trip to the county finals ended as Malverne was defeated by the Seahawks 6-5 in eight innings in the final game of the best-of-three series on May 22. Senior Jeremy Bowden was outstanding on the mound for the Mules going all eight innings in the loss.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Spellman had nothing but good things to say about his team. “They battled hard and never quit,” he said. “The guys kept plugging away and got better as the season went along. The effort the boys gave was excellent.”
The Mules advanced to the semifinal round after knocking off Wheatley 4-2 in the single-elimination quarterfinal game. Bowden gave up two runs in the first inning, but then shut down the Wildcats for the final six. Bowden scattered five hits, struck out 10 and walked two to earn the complete game victory. Sophomore Brandon Michaels laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Senior shortstop Matt Sabino had a two-run single in the bottom of the third to tie the score.
After dropping the first game against Cold Spring Harbor by a score of 11-6, the Mules found themselves in a win or go home situation. Spellman handed the ball to Max Henry, who had made just three career varsity starts. Henry responded by pitching like a veteran and earned a 2-1 victory. The sophomore right hander gave up just four hits over six plus innings. Bowden was called on in the seventh with a runner on first and no outs. After a force out at second, the Mules middle infield turned a game ending double play to force the deciding game.
In the final game, Malverne battled back from a 5-0 first inning deficit and tied the game. The Mules scored four runs over the final two innings. Bowden’s two-run double in the seventh completed the comeback. Malverne had a chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth when it had two runners aboard, but couldn’t get the lead run across the plate.
Senior center fielder Rob Onorato and Sabino both earned honors for Malverne. Early in the season, Onorato, who was selected as an All-League player, hit a walk-off single to give the Mules a 6-5 victory over Mineola. Sabino, who started at shortstop for four seasons at Malverne, earned All County honors. Recognizing a dearth of pitching, Sabino volunteered to go to the mound and compiled a very respectable 3-3 record with wins over Cold Spring Harbor, Mineola and Lynbrook. At the plate, Sabino led the team with a batting average of .383.
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