by Lou Accumanno
It was a team effort for the Massapequa Cyclones today as Coach John Cosenza had a few players missing, but his team made all the stops at the right time that helped secure a 6-5 win to deal the Tri-State Arsenal NY Prime’s first loss of the season.
Cosenza said, “These kids come to practice; do a great job and grind!” This Cyclones squad did just that in this match up.
Connor Naus was on the mound for the Cyclones and got into trouble early as one run scored in the first, but he kept cool, calm and collected as the defense from the infield and the outfield backed him up.
“I had a slow start today, but these guys gave me the confidence to throw strikes,” Naus said as he recorded a total of nine strikeouts in today’s matchup against a team that could hit the ball and score.
Nick D’Errico, Matt DiBlasi, and Anthony Femia were locked in on defense as they worked to get every ground ball or potential line drive from getting passed them in the infield.
Chris Merro helped ignite the offense in the third inning as he ripped the ball down the third base line to get on first. Steven Zografos followed as he smacked the ball over to center field for Merro to score and tie the game at one a piece in the third.
The Arsenal responded back in the same inning to take back the lead by one run.
The game changed tides again in the fourth as Femia smacked the ball to center field for a double and allowed two runs to come into score.
A wild pitch followed right after when Merro was up at bat and allowed Femia to steal for third.
Merro followed with a single that brought Femia home; making the score 4-2 for the Cyclones at the end of the fourth inning.
The Arsenal kept fighting back in the game as their team hit two runs to tie the game again in the bottom of the fifth.
With Paul Zeno on second, and Zografos on first, with two outs in the sixth; the Cyclones wanted to get that lead back, but knew they needed something big to happen. Nick Amandola delivered as he ripped one down the third base line and sent both runners home after a wild throw to first extending the lead 6-4.
The Cyclones regained the lead and just needed to make the defensive stops in the seventh to get the win.
Cosenza made a pitching change earlier in the sixth with Paul Zeno on the mound to close out the game. Zeno helped get two outs from ground balls to start off the inning but couldn’t keep that hot streak going as one hit snuck by the first base line that allowed a runner on third.
One out remained in the game as the ball grounded to third but was overthrown to first as one run scored making the score 6-5.
Huge hit by Nick Amandola to help the Massapequa Cyclones in the 6th to secure the 6-5 win over the Tri State Aresenal’s. Amandola is your Axcess Baseball player of the game! pic.twitter.com/YXErbyjGO6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 3, 2019
Zeno came back to strike out the next batter and punched in the victory for the Cyclones.
“I know I have a great defense behind me and it helps,” Zeno said as he kept his composure for that final out.
The Cyclones improve to a 7-5 record on the season and cannot wait to have the rest of their players back in their lineup when the Brian Moore Tournament ends.
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