Eagles alive after narrow victory

The law of averages still hasn’t evened out for Valley Stream Central, but after suffering three one-run losses over a six-game stretch it finally celebrated a hard-fought victory and remained in the hunt for a Nassau Class AA baseball playoff spot.

The Eagles rallied from five runs down to stun East Meadow, 6-5, in the rubber game of last week’s Conference AA-II series on May 3. Danny Napolionello’s walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh scored pinch-runner Louis Gandesegui with the winning run as Central won back-to-back games for the first time this spring and improved to 4-8 in conference play. Gandesegui ran for Vito Friscia, who set the table by drawing a walk.

“We haven’t been playing bad baseball,” Eagles coach Frank Alesia said. “Our hitting can be a little more consistent, but overall I’m pleased. We’ve had some really tough losses, but we’ve just stayed the course and it’s outstanding to finally have a close game go our way.”

The Jets scored twice in the first and added three more runs in the third to build a 5-0 lead against starting pitcher Mike Russo. But Russo settled down over the next three innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five, as Central mounted its comeback. After pushing across a pair of runs in the third, the hosts pulled even in the sixth on a two-run double by John Faust and a run-scoring single by Doug Medrano. Brandon Wilder relieved Russo and promptly retired East Meadow in order in the seventh.

“It was like a replica of the first game of the series, but that one we lost by a run,” Alesia said. 

The previous day, the Eagles got the bats going and pitcher Mike Marmol carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning in an 11-7 road win. “The bigger thing is we strung hits together and gave Mike a lead to work with,” said Alesia, who noted East Meadow’s first hit came with one out in the sixth.

Marmol, who changes speeds well and pitches to contact, struck out two. The offense produced three runs in the third and exploded for five more in the seventh. Central’s top three hitters — Ricky Grosso, Napolionello and Russo — combined for four RBIs in the seventh.

The series opener on April 30 at Firemen’s Field went nine innings with East Meadow prevailing, 5-4. The Jets scored twice in the first and twice in the second to build a four-run lead, but the Eagles rallied to tie behind two RBIs from Marmol and one apiece from Grasso and Russo. 

“Not a lot of bounces have gone our way, but we still have a shot at the playoffs,” said Alesia, who noted the Eagles must win at least two of three games against Hicksville this week to give themselves a chance to reach postseason play.