Having been around a winning culture, Brandon Isolano learned a thing or two about winning from competing for a New York State Class AA championship last season. It paid off in the eighth inning today, when he lined the go-ahead RBI single to right field to score Frank Genise and give West Islip a crucial 4-3 series win over Bellport.
“They just showed us how to play as a team, just play hard and practice hard,” said the senior. The victory gave Mike LaDonna his first varsity win in an exhilarating back-and-forth affair that featured plenty of drama.
West Islip got off to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning off Sacred Heart-commit Joe Greco when Kyle O’Neill (Felician-commit) ripped an opposite field double and scored on Greg Tsouprakos‘ (Pace-commit) RBI single up the middle. They added another run in the second inning on a safety squeeze by Anthony Ippolito to score Joe Palmieri.
Bellport got one back in the second on an RBI single by Mike Sangiamo to score Ryan Baumann, who led off with a single.
Isolano ripped an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1 in the fourth. Greco settled down after that, firing scoreless innings in the fourth through sixth innings while he gave a chance for the Clippers to chip away.
Final: West Islip 4, Bellport 3 in eight pic.twitter.com/bY7gEERFRo
aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2017
Sangiamo hit another run-scoring single in the fourth to score Anthony Jacabacci and they tied it up on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Virno to score Sangiamo.
The Clippers mounted a threat in the home half of the sixth against reliever Mike LaDonna, putting runners on second & third with one out but he eluded damage with a pair of infield pop ups.
Jacabacci came on in relief in the seventh and fired a scoreless inning to allow the Clippers a chance to walk-off. They got a two-out runner on Baumann’s third-hit of the afternoon but he was stranded.
In the eighth, Jacabacci retired the first two batters on a flyout and strikeout but he misplayed a ground ball to put the go-ahead run on base and he moved to second on a walk to Ippolito. That set the stage for Isolano who put the Lions ahead for good.
O’Neill came on for the save in the eighth. He worked around a one-out walk to Ryan Kane to retire the final two batters and secure the series victory.
LaDonna stated that “it was a great game against a great team.” He added that he was calm and his change up was working for him.
West Islip will take on Centereach next week, while Bellport will take on Deer Park.
