Well, this is what the people wanted. The locomotive versus the immovable object.
The reigning New York State Class A champion Wantagh Warriors (21-5) against Shoreham-Wading River (24-1).
The reigning New York Class A Player of the Year (Jimmy Joyce) against the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner (Brian Morrell).
Two Div-I pitchers in the midst of great seasons going head-to-head in a winner-take-all.
How do they stack up?
The way I measure how potent a high school offense is, is by how many Div-I players they have.
Wantagh has Joyce, Anthony D’Onofrio, Trevor Fagan and Anthony Fontana. They have several other key pieces such as John Conroy, Charlie Interrante, Pat Willix and Jake Castellano–who had a big game in the County Championship.
D’Onofrio might be the best pure hitter of the group. At 5’6″, he’s not a power guy in the traditional sense, but he has terrific bat speed and bat control that produces line drives that can get to the gaps. Joyce and Fontana supply the power. They can both launch home runs out of the any yard and will present big challenges for Morrell, who will have to be careful with those in RBI situations.
Fagan is a fantastic line-drive hitter and he also is a big-game player that tends to play his best when the chips are on the table.
Morrell is a high strikeout guy (87 in 60 innings) but this is a team that does not strikeout much.
Shoreham-Wading River put up video-game offensive numbers. They average 10.0 runs per game and have several power hitters. Obviously, Morrell is the biggest threat having hit eight home runs including two grand slams in his past two games, but he is far from the only one.
Nicky Manesis (Army-commit) had eight home runs as well. He is a tall hitter that produces prodigious lofting fly balls that seemingly climb as they get out.
Thomas Brady (NJIT-commit) has been an RBI machine and a field general behind the plate. Dean Stalzer has been mashing in the postseason and Miles Kelly (College of Charleston-commit) has been a consistent force all season. Alex Bettenhauser has lengthened the lineup and really made it impossible for a starting pitcher to take a breath.
It’s going to be a tremendous game. It’s hard to be confident in making a prediction in this game, but for me, Wantagh has faced a higher-level of competition all season and they are more equipped to win a low-scoring game. I am going to go with my gut and take the Warriors in this one by a score of 4-3.
