Eastport-South Manor is headed to the Suffolk Class AA Finals with a 3-2 victory ! pic.twitter.com/qfosu0J54T
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2018
Six years ago it was on this same field that the Eastport-South Manor Sharks had a chance to win a county championship against Connetquot. They had better fortunes this time around as they are now one step closer to accomplishing that feat. They held off Connetquot’s late rally to win 3-2 and they have a date with West Islip on Sunday.
Starting pitcher Alex Doskoez was efficient and used his defense all game, striking out five batters in a complete game victory. He proved his mettle on a number of occasions, stranding runners in scoring position in the first, fifth and sixth innings and seventh innings; exemplifying the classic ‘bend but don’t mantra’ against a high-octane T-Birds lineup that features as many as seven players that will wind up playing college baseball.
He credited his defense stating, “I wouldn’t be there if not for them,” as he won his 7th game of the season. He also noted the “long, difficult road” they took to get here. This victory came one day after their dramatic comeback against the T-Birds in which they trailed 1-0 entering the 7th inning but received a clutch walk-off single by Trevor Zanderzuk. The hit gave Ryan Foran his 9th victory of the season against zero losses.
The Sharks got out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an infield single by Connor Trace to score Angelo Montalbano. They were facing Oswego-commit Nick Ungar, who was making his first start of the season. His brother, Alex, was lights-out on Thursday–firing six shutout innings.
They extended their lead to 3-0 in the third inning on an RBI single by Montalbano and an infield error. Despite the deficit, you had the sense that it would’ve be enough to crush the spirit of the T-Birds who have been a resilient bunch this season.
That was confirmed after Chris Amato led off the inning with a double and came around to score on Stony Brook-commit Derek Yalon’s single to center field.
Ungar settled in and didn’t allow any further damage in his outing which allowed his team a chance to remain in the game.
In the fourth, the T-Birds got their first two runners on but Doskoez showed his toughness by eluding any damage. In the fifth inning, once again the T-Birds threatened. A one out strikeout with a runner on second eluded the catcher and allowed D. Yalon to reach base safely. He stole second to get two runners into scoring position, but Doskoez got N. Ungar to fly out to center field to end the threat. In the seventh inning, he allowed a two-out, RBI double to D.Yalon to cut the lead to 3-2 and Ciaran McGinnis at the plate, but he forced him into a routine ground out to second to end the game.
The Sharks improve to 20-5 on the season. It is safe to say they have surprised many people in the way that Northport did in 2016. There are many similarities between the two teams; primarily in the top of the rotation. They have two legit aces in Foran (9-0) and Doskoez (7-2) and have had to piece together the third spot. The Tigers, back in 2016, relied on Brian Herrmann and Nicholas Palmerini. Their offense was led by Frankie Stola and George Sutherland but did not match the firepower of West Islip. ESM will have the odds stacked against them once again, but they will be hoping for a rainout on Sunday so that they can have Foran and Doskoez lined up for Games 1 & 2. West Islip is riding a 19-game win streak and just rolled through Commack 7-2 and 10-2. No easy task, but it will be a thrilling series without a doubt.
