Sometimes it just takes a little tough love. Island Trees Head Coach Joseph D’Auria gave his team a stern talking to next to the dugout after they stranded the bases loaded with no out in the second inning and failed to score.
Whatever he said paid immediate dividends as Island Trees woke up in the top of the third inning, taking a 2-1 lead on an E5 and an RBI ground out by Connor Waiting. Starting pitcher Vinny Giambona allowed just a run inthe second on a sac fly off the bat of Andrew Thaler. From that point on, he was untouchable. He finished with a CG, allowing just the one run, yielding five hits and striking out six batters.
Vinny Giambona fired a complete game allowing just 1 run in a 10-1 victory for Island Trees pic.twitter.com/CA0ozwcjuD
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 6, 2021
From that point on, it was all Island Trees. They added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI double to center by Giambona who had two hits and 3 RBI in the game. In the next inning, Waiting crushed a lead off shot to extend the lead to 4-1. They piled on four more runs that inning with RBI hits by Nick Drew, Giambona and Jonathan Uzzo, who D’Auria called a “revelation”.
Wheatley had originally brought a lot of energy from the dugout in the early innings but as Giambona settled down so did they.
In the top of the sixth, they put it out of reach with two more runs to extend their lead to 7-1. Giambona went back out for the seventh inning and worked around a two-out single to seal the deal.
Island Trees looks extremely impressive and although it is only two games, they will be dangerous all year. With Robby Stephens, Jonathan Uzzo and Vinny Giambona atop the rotation and a strong lineup with Justin Mott, Antonio Ducatelli and Connor Waiting in the 3-4-5 spots, they will put up a lot of runs.
During the off-season, D’Auria told me that he really is impressed with his 2022 class – as they are not only talented but they eat, sleep and breathe baseball. And that will be the core of the team for this year and next. St. John the Baptist ace Kyle Chase is from that district as well, if he was part of that crew they would be title contenders for the next two years.
Regardless, Island Trees improves to 2-0 and they will have Wheatley on Friday with ace Robby Stephens on the hill.
