Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you. That's the kind of season Mineola High School varsity baseball coach Helms Bohringer is having. In fact, that bear has been after the Mustangs all season long. Coach Bohringer said, after his team dropped its first six league games, "We have our days of good baseball, bad baseball and some unfortunate breaks."

In the first crossover game, Mineola went against Wantagh, a semi-finalist in last spring's county tournament. Starting pitcher Tom Aupied had not walked a batter in his two previous games. But, this day, he walked two of the first three and Wantagh turned it into three runs. They added four more in the second and three in the fourth inning. But, only three of those runs were earned. The Mustangs committed five errors. Greg Weiss had two hits and two RBI for Mineola while Bryan Gallucci scored twice.

The next game against Wantagh, Coach Bohringer brought up sophomore Matt Shanahan from the JV team to make his first varsity start. But, Wantagh responded by ringing up 13 more runs for the day, helped by six Mustang miscues. J.F. Canavan, Bryan Gallucci and Richie Medlock each connected for two hits for Mineola.

Mineola was hitting a little better in the next outing. But, West Hempstead pinned a 12-6 defeat on the Mustangs. In a 2-1 game in the second inning, the Rams jumped on pitcher Tom Aupied for five runs. Sophomore Mike Kondraicuk followed with effective relief. He gave up one unearned run in two and two thirds innings. Then, junior Chris Egner continued his relief mastery, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. In the hitting department, Mineola scored four times in the last two innings, including Rob Campagna's solo homer and sacrifice fly, an RBI triple from Bryan Gallucci and a one-run single from George Harrison.

It was much closer the second time around. But, the Rams still prevailed 4-2. Mike Shanahan made another start and went five innings, allowing four runs, only one of which was earned. Shanahan gave up only four hits. Mineola had the tying runs on base in the seventh inning, but couldn't push them across. The next crossover game came against Lynbrook. The Owls outslugged Mineola 13-8. Rob Campagna made his first varsity start on the mound, but gave up a leadoff double followed by a homerun. An error allowed another run to score and the Mustangs were down 3-0. Mineola grabbed the lead in the second inning. Back-to-back doubles from George Harrison and Tom Aupied drove in two runs. Another run scored on a balk and then Matt Jetter's sac fly scored the fourth run of the inning.

But, Lynbrook came back with eight runs in the third because of several Mineola errors. Richie Medlock hit his first homerun of the season for the Mustangs.

Game two against Lynbrook was much closer. But, it ended in a 2-1 loss. The game was shortened to four and a half innings by rain. This day, the Mustangs' bats went silent at the wrong time. Owl pitching notched eight strikeouts, six of which came with Mineola runners on base. It was too bad because Bryan Gallucci pitched effectively. Mineola then played a two-game crossover series against Plainedge, which resulted in two more close losses. After some very effective relief from Chris Egner to stop the Devils' run at 9-2, Mineola scored five runs and had the tying run at the plate before falling short. Greg Weiss drove in a run. Bryan Gallucci had an RBI triple followed by J.F. Canavan's RBI single and Matt Sanderleaf's double, which drove in another run. Game two was a 3-1 Plainedge win. Gallucci pitched well enough to win.

"The remainder of the season is crucial. The way our conference is shaping up, my guess is we need to win a minimum of seven games and could sneak into second place and make the players," said Coach Bohringer.

The Mineola girls varsity lacrosse team was presented with a beautifuly sunny day to honor its four seniors. Danielle Adams, Lauren Anderson, Alison Auriemmo and Victoria Montalbano were recognized before the Lady Mustangs home contest against Manhasset. "These four young ladies have brought so much talent, perseverance and personality to the program. All four started their lacrosse days under the tutelage of Jennifer Maichin in the middle school. It's hard to say goodbye to four individuals who have brought so much to the program," said coach Katie Sheehan.

After the ceremonies, Mineola had the task of facing its toughest opponent so far this season. Manhasset junior All-American Kate Breslin put on a clinic. She scored 11 of Manhasset's 16 first half goals. Despite the opponent and the score, coach Sheehan said her squad played incredibly well. "We went after every pass, every ground ball, and every offensive move. We played as if the score was tied," she said.

The coach credited her defense and cited Maryanne Georgeou, who seemed to be everywhere without tiring. Danielle Adams, Joanna Canning, Victoria Montalbano and Georgeou scored goals for Mineola.

Coach Mark Miller's boys varsity lacrosse team had four wins and nine losses through action on May 3. The Mustangs started the season with a pair of wins in six non-league contests. The wins came by a 12-6 count over Cardozo of Queens and 11-3 over Sewanhaka. The losses came against Hewlett, Glen Cove, Valley Stream Central and Great Neck South. Tom Grimaldi and Joe Cerulli paced the scoring in the non-league games. Grimaldi had 10 goals and Cerulli had six. Matt Bispo was the midfield leader and the go to guy on the team. James Holubowich, Peter Wain and Steve Ricciardi were among the leaders in ground balls and defense while the long poles were led by Danny Mehra and Ben Lee while goalie Matt Grilo looked sharp.

Mineola opened its Conference-C season by dropping a 10-6 decision to North Shore. The score was tied after the first, second and third quarters, but North Shore outscored the Mustangs 4-0 in the final quarter. Mustang goalie Matt Grilo made 15 saves. Matt Bispo score three goals. Next time out, Seaford took advantage of Mineola's slow start and rang up a 6-1 lead by halftime. The second half saw the Mustangs play much better, pretty much playing Seaford evenly. But, the result was a 9-4 defeat. Joe Cerulli scored twice, while Peter Wain and Tom Grimaldi each had one. Matt Grilo was tested repeatedly and made 22 saves. The third league contest was an 8-4 loss at Clarke. The Rams held a 4-2 halftime lead. Matt Bispo and James Holubowich had scored for the Mustangs. After second half goals from Bispo and Cerulli, a storm front brought with it lighning and the end of the game with eight minutes remaining.

Mineola's next two conference games came against tow of the top seeded teams and it showed. Locust Valley rolled past the Mustangs 16-3. Ivan Anania, Tom Grimaldi and Steve Ricciardi scored the goals for Mineola.

From the frying pan into the fire, the Mustangs went on the road to play number one seeded Cold Spring Harbor. The long trip only made it worse. The home team handed Mineola a 16-2 defeat. Holubowich and Grimaldi scored the goals while Grilo made 20 saves in net.

There was no quit in the Mustangs though as they came out next game and routed Roslyn 14-1. Mineola rolled up a 10-0 lead by halftime. Grimaldi led all scorers with six goals. Cerulli scored four times and assisted on three others. Chris Williams scored twice while Bispo and Wain each had one. Roslyn scored in the closing seconds to spoil Matt Grilo's shutout bid. The next lacrosse game made it two straight wins for the Mustangs. On senior day, the Mustangs whipped Wheatley 16-6. Nine different players scored in the game. Grimaldi paced the attack with four while Cerulli added three. Six seniors were honored before the game. Joe Cerulli, Peter Wain, Pio Park, Ben Lee, Mike Gregorius and Marcos Mendes will be missed.