The Mineola Mustangs gave the first place Clarke Rams their second loss of the season in a 5-1 win at Mineola High School yesterday.
Senior pitcher, James Wiercinski led the Mustangs allowing just one run and four hits in a complete game. Wiercinski also struck out the Rams six times in Mineola’s eighth win of the season.
“James has been outstanding all season,” said head coach, Helms Bohringer. “He doesn’t give up too many hits and doesn’t give up two many walks. Without him we’ be in a lot of trouble.”
Mineola’s offense started early on in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, junior, Ryan DePalma nailed a single and Wiercinski slapped another one to set up junior, Alex Maher’s RBI double that gave the Mustangs an early 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when junior, Vinny Lubrano led off the inning with a double and would later score on a single by senior, Chris Fischer, who went 3-for-3 in the game.
After dominating the first half of the game, Mineola finally gave up a run in the top half of the fifth inning, which gave the Rams life in this Conference A-IV game.
That momentum for Clarke was quickly thwarted when the Mustangs tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBIs by DePalma and junior, Mike Conte.
“Those runs were huge,” coach Bohringer. “I think James was a little tired and it helped him to be able to pitch to the defense.”
Wiercinski was able to play to his defense as he got the last three outs of the game to secure a big victory for Mineola baseball.
“Obviously it’s a huge win to beat the first place team in the conference,” coach Bohringer said. “Hopefully it will make them believe we’re just as good as anyone else as long as we play smart baseball.”
The win moved the Mustang’s record to 8-7 overall. Mineola next plays at home on May 12 at 4:30 p.m. against Locust Valley.
