Long Beach Baseball Drops Three to Mepham

Mepham’s Jordan Gilroy was more at ease before taking the mound at Long Beach High School Friday, after his team defeated the Marines 8-0 and 3-1 earlier in the week.

Gilroy struck out five batters and gave up one run in the Pirates’ 6-1 victory and sweep of Long Beach on Friday afternoon.

“We won the first two games and we felt comfortable going in and we had run support,” Gilroy said after the game. “So we had a pretty good cushion.”

Long Beach’s lone run came in the fifth inning, when third baseman Dylan Stamile smacked a single to right field to drive in Sal Rusicia from third base. Rusicia had a leadoff walk and went to third when Phil Aqulia hit a dribbler near the mound that brought the infield in and left third based uncovered.

The Pirates struck first in the second inning when both first baseman Bill Ruvolo and designated hitter Steve Teitel walked and catcher John Frisolome hit a two-out, two-run single down the left field line. Mepham had five two-out RBIs on the day.

In the second inning, Long Beach threatened with runners on second and third, but Gilroy threw out center fielder Brian Whalen on a sacrifice bunt that had advanced the runners and tossed two of his five strikeouts.

Mepham added a run in the third inning when Ruvolo hit a two-out RBI single on a curve ball by Marines’ starting pitcher Will Schelhorn.

Long Beach coach Jason Zizza handed the ball to Jake Kempinski in the fifth when Schelhorn relinquished a two-run single to Teitel that gave Mepham a 5-0 lead.

Mepham scored its final run in the sixth after catcher John Frisolome took third after Kempinski balked and Tommy Deluca brought him home on a groundout. Angelo Messina relieved Gilroy in the sixth and hurled two scoreless innings for the Pirates.

With the win, Mepham (6-7 overall) is now riding a five-game winning streak. “We played very tight and we hit in clutch situations,” Mepham coach Bill Murphy said about Friday's game. “We had five two-out RBIs.”

Long Beach, who lost to Manhasset 5-3 on Saturday, falls to 1-11 overall.

“We knew coming into the season that we’re in one of the best conferences, and we knew every team we play is extremely competitive, with good batters and pitchers,” Zizza said after Friday’s loss. “But we’re competing and eventually things are going to turn our way.”

On Monday, Mepham starts a three-game series at home against cross-town rival Kennedy, while Long Beach heads to Carey for the first of three games. Both games have a 4:30 p.m. start.

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