Mineola Slugs Through Wantagh 16-2 in Second Round

Earlier in the season, Mineola varsity baseball Coach Helms Bohringer proudly claimed he’d put his top of the lineup against anyone in the county.

The rest of Long Island is starting to take notice.

Mineola scored double-digit runs in their Monday, eliminating Wantagh in the second round of Nassau County’s baseball playoffs 16-2.  

Ryan Jenkins (3-4, 2 RBI), Craig Weber (3-5, 2 RBI) and Jim Bulva (4-5, 2 RBI) combined for half of the offensive production on the day for Mineola. The fearsome threesome tallied 10 of Mineola’s 20 hits and scored eight of 16 runs to lead Mineola into the quarterfinals where they will face Garden City on Wednesday.

The trio also combined for five of Mineola’s seven stolen bases on the day.

“They’re finally playing like they’re capable of playing,” Bohringer said. “We’re playing fundamental baseball. Now, it’s a best out of three. It’s anyone’s ballgame.”

Despite a splitting headache, Senior John Caputo allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings to pick up the postseason victory for his club. Of the six innings he pitched, Wantagh was set down in order in three of them, assuring the Mustangs would go onto the next round.

“Since the majority of our team are seniors, I don’t think anyone wants to go home,” Caputo said. “I just don’t want them to.”

Thus far in the playoffs, the Mineola pitching staff has allowed just three runs in 14 innings of postseason play and outscored their opponents 27-3 in two playoff games.

“The entire pitching staff has pitched well in the last two-and-a-half weeks,” Bohringer said. “(Caputo) has taken it to the next level. For a senior to step up and not feeling a 100 percent and pitching the game that he did…these guys are special to me.”

The Mustangs duplicated their formula of : getting runners on and being aggressive on the basepaths to manufacture runs.

Jenkins led the game off with a walk and then used his speed to take second base. Craig Weber’s RBI single put Mineola up 1-0 at the end of the first. Mineola could not be caught on seven steal attempts against the Warriors.

Caputo’s 1-2-3 performance in the second to send Wantagh down in order set up a huge second inning that took Seaford out of the game.

After Caputo’s leadoff double to start the rally, Mike Cerquiera blasted a two-run home run to put Mineola up by three and after Steve O’Connor’s groundout, the Mustangs would go on to rattle off seven consecutive hits to plate five more runs in the inning. Mineola scored seven runs on eight hits in the second and would tack on five more runs in the fifth.

“When you’re not in the game from the beginning, it’s hard to play baseball,” Wantagh Coach Kevin Sachs said. “You just hope you can have a big inning to come back. They hit the ball very well early in the game. They got on us early.”

Although Wantagh’s season ended in defeat, Coach Sachs said the team would get together for an end of the year dinner to reflect on what he called a great season.

“We had a lot of highlights in the season,” he said. “We beat some good teams and had some good wins. It didn’t go the way we wanted today but we’ll end the season as a team at the dinner and do it the right way.”

Mineola will look to continue their success in a best-of-three series against Garden City starting this afternoon, weather permitting.