Sachem Baseball Advances to Suffolk Class AA Final

With a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning and their ace on the mound, Sachem North was two outs from a clean playoff win. Then the drama began.

“I’m thinking, here we go,” said Sachem coach Tom Gambino.

Fifth-seeded Eastport-South Manor, playing at home, picked up two runs in unconventional fashion with a runner scoring on a dropped third strike and another on a wild pitch that went out of play.

Sachem’s Mike Vitale buckled down, forced a ground out and struck out the final batter en route to a 3-2 victory for the Flaming Arrows in the winner’s bracket final of the Suffolk County Class AA baseball playoffs.

No. 7 Sachem (20-4), who advances to the Suffolk County championship for the first time since 1987, will play in the title game Wednesday at 4 p.m., but it's unclear on who they'll face. No. 8 Commack, who beat No. 10 West Islip in the loser's bracket semifinal Monday, will face No. 5 Eastport (20-4) Tuesday in another playoff.

Sachem scored all three of its runs in the top of the fifth inning. Justin Carlo, Brendan Garry and Nick Teta hit three consecutive two-out RBI singles off Eastport pitcher Brendan O’Sullivan to give Sachem some breathing room.

“He threw a lot of first pitches off-speed in every inning,” Garry said, “so we sat on it and that inning gave us confidence.”

“Once we got that lead I was not letting it up,” said Vitale, who pitched a complete game, struck out five batters and walked two for the win. “I tried extra hard and got it done.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning Eastport came close to grabbing some momentum offensively when Dave Griffiths hit a rope to the left field wall. A relay throw, however, saw Joe Gonzalez, who singled earlier in the inning, thrown out at the plate after Sachem outfielder Tommy Klingel hit shortstop Alec Sole, who then fired a laser to Garry at home.

“Tommy has a great arm,” said Garry, “and when Sole has the ball he doesn’t miss. The kid has a hose for an arm.”

Vitale’s winning ways are nothing new for his teammates, especially Garry, who called a magnificent game from behind the plate.

“We expect to win when Vitale is on the mound,” said Garry. “We have good team chemistry. He has a lot of confidence in me. Even when he shakes me off I know I can trust him.”

Vitale, who plays with a handful of Eastport players on the Long Island Sharks travel club, said he also started most of the opposition’s at-bats with off-speed pitches.

“They jump at it,” he said. “This was big. It’s amazing how we came together in that last inning.”

“We don’t score a lot of runs, so we have to play great defensively and pitch great and we did both,” said Gambino.

Sole is scheduled to start for Sachem on the mound Wednesday.

Winning Pitcher: Mike Vitale: 7 INP, 5K, 2 BB

Losing Pitcher: Brendan O'Sullivan: 6 INP, 3K, 3BB