Wantagh Gets Walk-Off Win Over Cyclones, 9-8

The South Side High School Cyclones had its six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday after the Wantagh Warriors fought back from an early six-run deficit and scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off, 9-8 victory.

"I think we showed a little bit of everything," Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said about his team's resiliency. "We gave up six runs, which is no good, but we gave them up early enough that we didn't have to worry about a big inning; let's just get one here, one there. I think what was tough, after we came back, they re-took lead and sometimes you die there."

Down 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh, Mike Rumel (2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored) doubled to start the inning against reliever Andrew Talbot. Cleanup hitter Dom Desiderio (3-for-4, 3 RBIs, two runs scored) lined a single to put runners on the corners, and Cody Cornacchio smoked a 1-2 pitch down the first base line, scoring Rumel and Desiderio for the walk-off win.

"I told [our players] let's play some baseball," Sachs said. "We got speed, and if we get the leadoff guy, we know we're going to get at least one and as it turned out, we got two."

It was a disappointing loss for South Side, who had an early 6-0 lead but couldn't put the Warriors away. The loss snapped their six-game win streak.

"The guys were disappointed in themselves," South Side Head Coach Keith Lessuk said. "They felt they had the game and let it slip away. We didn't perform to our ability and we didn't close the door."

South Side jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after a throwing error on shortstop Mike Stack allowed Louis Matarazzo and Andrew Talbot to score with two outs. South Side scored four times in the third, capped by a two-run double by David Hawley. The two-RBI double gave South Side a 6-0 lead.

The Warriors, however, chipped away at starter Evan Singer. Wantagh scored three times in the bottom of the third courtesy of back-to-back RBI doubles by Rumel and Desiderio. Singer, who has great off-speed stuff, simply couldn't command his secondary and tertiary pitches.

"I think he was getting tired," Lessuk said of Singer in the fifth inning. "He didn't have all his pitches working. He tried to mix in the curveball, but he couldn't throw it for a strike."

After Wantagh's first two batters reached based in the bottom of the fifth via a walk and error, Desiderio launched a tw0-RBI double and Greg Welch lined a two-RBI single to give Wantagh's its first lead at 7-6.

South Side responded in the sixth when James Howard (2-for-4, RBI, run scored) doubled to left center with two outs to score Thomas Kane — who led off the inning with a double — and tie the game at 7. Louis Matarazzo's bloop single to right scored Howard, and gave South Side an 8-7 lead.

Andrew Talbot struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth, but Wantagh's 3-4-5 hitters in the bottom of the seventh strung three hits together for the walk-off win.

South Side plays again on Monday at home against Roslyn at 10:30 a.m. The Cyclones have completed its crossover league schedule, finishing 6-2.

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