GC Baseball Advances to County Finals

Number two seeded Garden City Trojans continued their fine season defeating the MacArthur Generals in the best of three semi-final series. In an evenly matched series that featured strong pitching, solid defense and timely hitting, the Trojans came out on top to advance to the County Finals against Calhoun.

The deciding game three was no different than the first two, a close contest in every way. So close that the game went 10 innings before GC came out on top with a walk off 4-3 win in the tenth inning. Pitching on both sides of the diamond was excellent, with Garden City senior starter Aidan Magnotta going six strong innings before turning the game over to Gabe Beschloss. The lefty freshman hurled four innings of hitless relief to get the win.

The first two games were decided by identical 2-1 scores, with each team winning their home game, highlighted by strong pitching performances. The first game on Saturday featured a complete game victory for Frank Santeramo who allowed just one unearned run on four hits while striking out three. The game was scoreless until the third inning when seniors Joe Infante and Joe Frandina came through with RBI hits to put GC up 2-0.

MacArthur would get one run back in the top of the fifth inning on a rare error by Garden City. But that would be all they would get as Santeramo shut them down for the final two innings of the game.

Coming back on Sunday morning Garden City had lefty Pat Heber take the hill. The junior lefty ran into trouble in each of the first three innings with MacArthur getting several seeing-eye hits. Heber would bear down with runners on base and only gave up two runs in the second inning. He went the distance and recorded seven strikeouts, keeping GC in the game.

But the combination of Mike Tufo and Tyler Bonsignore kept the Trojans offense off balance surrendering only three hits and a lone run in the third inning to get the win and send the series to a deciding game three in Garden City on Monday.

The Monday matchup featured more of the same, strong pitching, clutch at bats and a tense match-up that went 10 innings. Garden City jumped out to a one run lead in the third inning as Frank Santeramo drove in Peter Halloran for the game’s first run. The lead was quickly erased when the Generals scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth to tie the game.

The fifth inning saw the biggest outburst of runs in the series, as MacArthur jumped out on top with two runs. However, the Trojans came back with two runs of their own in the fifth. Senior catcher Joe Infante got things starter in the inning driving a double into the gap. All year long Infante has ignited the Trojan offense with his hitting. Joe Frandina followed with a double of his own driving in Infante and the Trojan bench was alive. Next up was Pat Heber and he came through with a run scoring hit to tie the game at three.

Magnotta and Beschloss shut down the General’s offense the rest of the way aided by key defensive plays from third baseman Gabe Elmokian, shortstop Jack Fanning, right fielder Frandina and catcher Infante.

The GC offense finally pieced together baserunners in the tenth inning, and it proved to be the difference. Fanning worked out a leadoff walk and took second base on a passed ball. With Infante stepping to the plate MacArthur chose to give him an intentional walk. Next up was Santeramo who squared to bunt for the sacrifice but legged it out as the Calhoun pitcher bobbled the ball to load the bases.

The table was set for Joe Frandina who already had two hits in the game and had just made a terrific running catch down the rightfield line in the top of the inning. As MacArthur pulled their infield and outfield in, it didn’t matter as Frandina took the first pitch in the leg for a walk-off, game winning hit by pitch. As Frandina jumped down the baseline to first base, Fanning came down the line with the run that put Garden City into the County finals. GC players swarmed Frandina after he reached first base and were quickly joined by their left field fans.

A great series that epitomized the saying, 'it's too bad someone had to lose.'

The County finals against top seeded Calhoun starts on Wednesday in Merrick, followed by a game in Garden City on Thursday. And if necessary, game three would be played at Calhoun on Friday. All start times are scheduled for 4:00.