Pitcher James Wiercinski stands at the mound after delivering a pitch.

The Mineola Mustangs rallied back to defeat the Island Trees Bulldogs 6-3 at Mineola High School in the first of a three game set the two teams played this week.

Pitcher James Wiercinski got off to a shaky start as the Bulldogs got off to a quick 2-0 lead after the first half inning. Island Trees added another run in the top of the fourth inning to build a 3-0 lead half way through the game.

It was the bottom of the fourth inning where the Mustangs found their groove offensively. Junior Steven DePalma started the Mineola rally with a single and a stolen base. Wiercinski helped his own cause with a double that scored DePalma that gave Mineola its first run and made the Mustang deficit just 3-1.

The Mustangs weren’t done there. Matt Kosowski added a single and Matt Demalas followed with a double to score Wiercinski and cut the deficit to just one run. That deficit would not last long as senior Nick Brown would hit a single that would tie the game for the first time since the first inning.

The home team wasn’t content with just tying the game. Pinch hitter Alex Maher gave Mineola its first lead of the game with a two-run single scoring Demelas and Brown to give the Mustangs a 5-3 lead. Senior Mike Conte added an RBI double to make the lead 6-3 before the inning was over.

“Some kids would hang their head for not starting,” said head coach Helms Bohringer of Maher’s clutch pinch hit. “He didn’t hang his head.”

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Wiercinski got out of trouble numerous times in the win but completed the game allowing three earned runs and seven hits. The senior pitcher also struck out four Bulldogs in the win. His strongest work came in the fifth and sixth innings where he retired five straight batters including a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth.

Tensions rose in the top of the seventh as Wiercinski allowed a walk and single by the first two batters he faced. With runners on second and third and the tying run coming to the place multiple times, Wiercinski finished the game off to give Mineola the Conference A-IV win.

“We seem to be a team so far that is never out of it,” said coach Bohringer on the comeback win.“I’m very proud of that but I would have liked to have more runs then just one inning. But we had one good inning and that was enough.”