Massapequa Baseball Moves Into First Place With Series Win Over Hicksville

After an impressive showing in Albany against two perennial contenders in Guilderland and Colonie last weekend, the Massapequa Baseball team went into their second series in Conference AA-I with a high confidence.

The Chiefs kicked off a three-game series against the Hicksville Comets at home on Monday with pitcher Ryan Boix searching for his third win of the season. However it was his pitching counterpart from Hicksville in Sean Bragg who got the upper hand.

Bragg threw a complete game, allowing just three earned runs while striking out four batters as Boix and the defense struggled to find outs. Hicksville took the opening game by a score of 11-5, handing Massapequa just their second loss of the young season.

On Wednesday, Massapequa traveled to Hicksville for the second game, where they went in with a 3-0 record in road games this season. Chiefs’ pitcher Eric Amato improved his record to 2-1 with his second strong start in a row, the first being a complete game win at Freeport, as Massapequa won 14-4.

Amato went six strong innings while not conceding an earned run during the stretch. Massapequa was backed by a nine-run second inning where they collected seven total hits. The rally was led by multiple hits by both Derrick Guzman and Nick Fanneron as every player in the lineup crossed the plate in the inning.

The following day, Massapequa headed back home for the rubber match with Ryan Van Buren on the mound. Van Buren went six innings with three strikeouts as well as forcing three double plays to help the Chiefs win 6-2.

Van Buren also had a late two-run single on the offensive end. Rob Wallace led the way by going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored and James Nakashian knocked in a run on a third inning single.

With winning two of the three conference games, Massapequa now stands in first place at the moment over Oceanside and Syosset with a 5-1 record and 8-2 overall this season.

Heroes: Eric Amato and Ryan Van Buren got the job done on the mound with six inning performances for each. Massapequa was led at the plate by Derrick Guzman, who went a combined 6-for-11 in the three games. Nick Evangelista went a combined 5-for-8.

Turning Point: After dropping the first game, Massapequa got a spark early in the next game with the nine-run second inning, helping them gain momentum to win the last two games and the series.

Quotable: “The 5-1 record is what matters to us right now at this point in our season,” Massapequa head coach Tom Sheedy said. “The series coming up against Oceanside is very important to the remainder of the season.”

Bottom Line: Massapequa will have a short break after playing six games in eight days between April 14-21, including the two in upstate New York. They went a combined 5-1 with a perfect 4-0 record on the road. Hicksville fell to 2-4 in the conference and 4-5 overall.

Key Stat: Massapequa outscored Hicksville 25-17 in the series and have outscored Conference opponents thus far by a combined 66-27 margin in six games.

Who’s Next: Massapequa vs. Oceanside, April 26, 4:30 p.m. Massapequa ace Ryan McCormick (1-0) will make his second start and fourth overall appearance this season after being out for the first few games.