Undefeated Clarke Trounces Mineola Baseball

The Clarke varsity baseball team showed why they are one of the most decorated baseball programs in Nassau County on Monday afternoon, routing Mineola (4-5, 4-6) 13-3 on their to remain undefeated.

Rams starter John Jarosz pitched six strong innings, fanning seven and allowing three runs to pick up the victory against the Mustangs, helping his own cause at the plate going 3-for-4 with three runs scored on the day.

Clarke cleanup hitter Mike Aloisio collected three hits while driving in four runs to power the offensive onslaught.

Clarke (8-0, 9-0) opened up the three game set against Conference A-VI rival Mineola with a bang, driving home three runs in the top of the first before going on to plate two runs in each consecutive inning except the sixth when reliever Nick Moran kept the Rams offense in check.

It was the , after being limited to just three runs against the well respected Clarke team.

With eight league games remaining on the schedule for Mineola, head coach Helms Bohringer stressed the importance of victories entering the home stretch.

“Every loss is a big loss for us right now,” he said. “We’re trying to fight for seeding in the playoffs. The more games we win, the better seed we have. The better seed we have, the better our chances of having a home playoff game.”

Bohringer commended his team on offense which had been struggling in the previous two games against Island Trees. In that series, Mineola only scratched across four runs in two losses.

On Monday afternoon, the top of the Mustangs lineup each recorded a pair of hits. After Clarke put three runs on the board in the first, Ryan Jenkins returned fire for Mineola, scorching a ball in the left center field gap for a triple. He would score on a Craig Weber single to cut the Rams lead to 3-1. However, this is as close Mineola would get against John Jarosz and Clarke.

Clarke widened the gap to four in the top of the second inning and left the bases loaded as Mineola starter Anthony Riccardi survived another big Rams inning. The righthander tossed three innings and allowed seven runs on five hits on the day.

Mineola also struggled defensively, committing four costly errors that allowed Clarke to continue to score.

“Our biggest problem this year has been our pitching and our defense,” Bohringer said. “If we’re not going to shape up, even if we make the playoffs, it’s going to be short lived. It’s going to be one and done.”

Clarke got solid contributions not only from the offense and pitching but defensively, as well. After firstbaseman Jim Bulva singled in the bottom half of the third inning, he was quickly erased by a spectacular play from his Clarke counterpart, Kevin Mackey.

Nick Palma lined a ball that had double written all over until Caitan snatched the screamer out of the air with a full length dive. On the way to the ground, Caitan tagged the bag with his glove, doubling off Bulva in the process.

In the bottom of the fifth, Joseph Fusco cut down Craig Weber on a shallow fly ball to right field to pump the brakes on a would be Mineola rally. The Mustangs plated two in the frame but the double play quickly erased any further damage.

The solid defense backed a gritty performance from Rams starter Jarosz and Coach Tom Abruscato applauded his pitcher’s performance despite giving up three runs.

“John is a tough kid,” Coach Abruscato said. “He didn’t have anything today but it’s nice to see a guy when he doesn’t have stuff to gut it out and get the win. He did a good job of gutting this win out.”

Despite the overwhelming victory over Mineola, Abruscato said his team needed to be more effective on the basepaths if they are to continue their success.

“We were pretty sloppy on the basepaths today,” he said. “We’re pretty annoyed at that right now. That’s going to come back and bite us if we don’t correct that. We did a pretty decent job of swinging the bats today but we’re very disappointed at the overall game. Even though it’s a win and we’ll take a win, it was very sloppy.”

The Rams were caught stealing four times as Mineola backstop Billy Sullivan controlled the running game in the blowout loss.

After the game, Bohringer made it clear to his team what he expects following the 13-3 loss at home.

“I want to be the first team to knock them off,” he said. “They’re undefeated and we have two more chances to do it this week.”

Mineola for the middle game of a three game set at at 4:30 p.m.