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Hot, hazy and humid. That's how the weather was on Saturday morning, June 30 as Chris Orlando climbed the mound for Mineola in the first round of the District 29 Tournament. Hot, hot hot is how Orlando was as he pitched a gem of a game going the complete distance for Mineola. Chris pitched 6 innings allowing 4 walks while scattering 5 hits and striking out 5 in a 6 -2 Mineola victory over Roosevelt.

In the top of the first, Orlando set down the side with a little help from catcher Ed Proctor. After recording two outs, Orlando walked the number 3 hitter setting up the play. Pitching to the cleanup hitter, Orlando threw a pitch down and away that got past Proctor. The runner on first broke for second, but Proctor pounced on the ball and fired a perfect strike to Mick Oswald covering the bag ending the inning.

Mineola came to bat ready to play. Mike Vasconcelos led off with a walk and moved to second as Robert Maloney looped a single in to right center. Chris Orlando ripped a shot into the gap in left center and Vasconcelos and Maloney scored easily putting Mineola ahead 2 - 0.

Orlando got out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, by getting Roosevelt's right field to pop the ball up to short, escaping without any damage. In the home half of the second, Mineola would score 4 times building an insurmountable lead. Jonathon Hock reached first on a fielder's choice and Michael Vasconcelos was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second with two outs. With the runners moving, Robert Maloney poked the ball out to the shortstop who collided with the center fielder dropping the ball. Both runs scored and Maloney was awarded home on an over throw putting Mineola up 5 - 0. Chris Orlando ripped a shot deep into the alley in left for a stand up triple and Mick Oswald hit a laser past third for an RBI double and a 6 - 0 Mineola lead.

Roosevelt scored twice in the top of the fifth on a walk and two opposite field singles, but that would be it as Orlando took total control of the game. He struck out the number 3 hitter to end the fifth and went on to completely dominate the game in the sixth. The cleanup hitter for Roosevelt led off the sixth with a single to left, stole second and moved to third on a ground out. Having thrown close to 100 pitches, it looked like Mineola would go to a reliever. Instead, Orlando picked up the pace and struck out the next two batters on 6 straight fast ball to end the game. Mineola

After losing the second game of the Tournament to Floral Park 12 -2 on Monday , Mineola came back with a purpose on Thursday, July 5 by defeating Elmont South 10 - 0.

Chris Orlando stepped it up another notch on the mound by pitching a 4 inning, no-hitter. Chris walked one and struck out 7 while allowing no hits as he kept Elmont South batters off balance with a blazing fastball and an excellent changeup. All of Chris's strikeouts where consecutive as he struck out the side in the second and third innings and started the fourth with a K. Chris got plenty of support as Mineola scored early and often.

Michael Vasconcelos led off the game with a double and moved to third on an error. Robert Maloney walked and Vasconcelos would score on the throw to second as Maloney attempted a steal putting Mineola up 1 - 0. In the home half of the second, Mineola added two more runs in a Ruthian manner. Ed Proctor drew a walk and with two down Jon Hock dug-in at the plate. Hock blasted a 1 -1 pitch into a steady wind high into the netting of dead center field for a two run homerun and a 3 - 0 lead. Mick Oswald matched Hock's power prowess in the fourth when he launched a bomb over the left field fence giving Mineola a 4 - 0 lead.

The team would break it open in the fourth as every player contributed. Jon Hock led off with a double to right center and Jameson Canning followed with a double to left. Hock, held up on the play to ensure the ball dropped in, and moved to third as it did. Mike Vasconcelos hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Hock giving Mineola a 5 - 0 lead. Maloney beat out an infield single and Canning moved to third. A walk to Chris Orlando loaded the bases and Mick Oswald drew a full count walk as well to bring in Canning making the score 6 - 0. Anthony Morias slashed an opposite field single and both Maloney and Orlando scored bringing the damage to 8 - 0. Peter Clark, who has come through in the clutch during the entire Tournament, singled to right keeping the rally alive. Eddie Proctor would end the game by slamming a double to right. The Elmont right fielder threw the ball out of play allowing both Anthony Morias and Peter Clark to score giving Mineola a 10 - 0 lead and mercy rule victory.

As Mineola moves deeper into the District 29 Baseball Tournament, they seem to jell better as a team. On Saturday, July 7, they went the extra step and shut down the Garden City South team by the score of 2 - 0.

With Mick Oswald on the mound, Mineola rolled through the first inning unimpeded. However, the second inning proved to be fraught with trouble. Oswald had a hard time finding the strike zone and fell behind in the count. He walked the first two batters he faced before inducing the number 6 hitter in the GCS Lineup to hit a soft pop to the mound and recorded the first out of the inning. Oswald walked the next batter, loading the bases putting himself in a precarious situation. Mick bared down and struck out the next batter before getting the proceeding batter to ground out and escape any damage in the inning.

The game progressed quietly and quickly until the bottom of the third. With two down and no one on, Michael Vasconcelos slapped a single to right. Robert Maloney beat out an in field single putting runners on first and second. Chris Orlando stepped to the plate and ripped a drive to left center field bringing home two runs and a 2 - 0 Mineola lead.

In the top of the fourth, GSC pushed Oswald to focus again. After allowing a lead off double, Oswald gave up a single, putting runners on first and third with no one out. GCS moved the runner on first over to second mounting the pressure on Oswald and he never faltered. Oswald reared backed and struck out the next two batters before getting the last batter of the inning to hit a weak roller to first and an unassisted final out at first base by Kevin Tiseo.

In the fifth, Oswald walked the lead-off hitter and once again GCS seemed to be mounting a rally. With only a 2 run lead, Mick pitched carefully to the next batter. On a 2 - 0 pitch, the batter laced a shot up the middle destined for center field, with cat like reflexes Oswald snared the ball and threw to first for a double play again snuffing a potential GCS rally.

After going down quietly in the fifth, Mineola shut down an obstinate GCS Team in the sixth as Oswald snared another line drive that this time ended the game.