Mineola Marches Over Seaford 9-5 for Third Straight Win

By Vinny Messana

The Mineola Mustangs played a very aggressive style of baseball Tuesday afternoon at home as they stole seven bases and knocked out nine hits in a 9-4 win over Seaford.

"We played old-fashioned Mineola baseball," Mineola head coach Helms Bohringer said. "We did a lot of things right."

Some of those things were base running, but topping the list was a terrific outing from junior pitcher Ryan Kelly, who has emerged as the ace of the Mustangs rotation.

"He didn't pitch a good job, he pitched a great job," Bohringer added. "He threw his curveball over for strikes and that made his fastball better."

That was evident on the last batter of the game, who took a called third strike on a fastball down the middle, seemingly because Kelly's curveball had been a weapon he employed throughout the day.

After a shaky first inning in which the Vikings took a 2-0 lead, Kelly, whose pitch count stood at 24, including two wild pitches, settled in throwing scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth innings.

The Mustangs offense provided him with ample runs, forcing Seaford starting pitcher Lucas Hall to allow 14 base runners over four innings.

Mineola then scored five runs in the first on a steal of home, an error by the catcher, a two-run single from Kelly and an RBI single by Scott Berger. They added another run in the second inning on an RBI single by Kenny Faath.

Three more runs came in during the fourth inning thanks to an RBI double by Nick Iadevaio, a fielder's choice and another RBI single by Kelly.

Kelly, a righty, ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth and sixth inning due to inconsistent command, but induced the No. 2 Seaford hitter into a fly ball to end a first-and-second threat in the sixth.

He closed out the game in the seventh inning without allowing a run, despite an error by John Lusardi. Both teams committed a bevy of errors which forced pitchers to get more outs than needed.

"We couldn't make plays," said Seaford head Coach Milano. "I don't care what the team's record is, it makes it difficult to win when you allow extra outs. Coach Bohringer has been doing it much longer than me, and he knows how to win."

With the win, Mineola moves to 5-5 overall (4-5 in conference) while Seaford drops to 6-4 overall and in-conference.

                 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Seaford    2   0   0    0   1   1   0    5   6   3
Mineola    5   1   0    3   0   0   X    9   9   2

Mineola Batting Statistics

Destefano: 1-2, 2 Runs, 2 BBs 4 SBs
Lusardi: 0-1 1 Run, HBP, BB, 1 K
Faath: 2-3 1 RBI, 1 Run, 1 K
Iadevaio: 1-3 1 RBI, HBP, 2 Runs, 1 K
DePalma: 0-2 1 Run, 1 BB, 2 Ks
Bienieck: 2-4 1 Run, 1 RBI, Triple
Kelly: 2-4 1 Run, 3 RBI, 1 K
Berger: 1-2 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Conte: 0-3

Mineola Pitching Statistics
Pitcher     IP   H   R   ER   BB   K   ERA
Kelly          7    6    3    3     2    6    3.00

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