The Mineola High School varsity baseball team opened its season in impressive fashion. The Mustangs rang up a record of 5-2 before ever entering conference play. The 2005 season began on a cold Saturday in March in Levittown. The result was nothing to warm the hearts of the Mustangs or their fans. Division, a team that is always tough, handed Mineola a 5-1 non-league defeat.

Division began the season as one of the higher ranked teams in Nassau County. Mineola jumped into the portion of its schedule called crossover. This matched most of the teams from the Mustangs' conference, A-VI, against the teams from Conference A-1.

The Mustangs, though, played like the team from the larger conference, going 4-1 through the crossovers.

The Mustangs shutout Great Neck South 7-0. Junior lefthander Tiago Rodrigues went the distance on a two-hitter. Offensively, the Mustangs got on the board right away. Senior catcher Mike Bencivenga was hit by a pitch. He stole second and scored on a single by senior centerfielder Tom Owens. From there, Owens moved to third on an error and was driven home by senior shortstop Derek Webber. The Mustangs kept the merry-go-round running. Webber stole second and third and was sent home by senior third baseman Pat Gaffney. Then, in the third inning, Webber and Gaffney executed a double steal. Webber scored. Senior leftfielder Chris Lyons then singled home Gaffney. Later in the game, Gaffney and junior Kevin Tiseo each drove in runs.

Mineola made it two straight in the crossover games with a 10-1 win over Sewanhaka. Junior righthander Mike Santopetro pitched five innings of four-hit ball to earn the victory. He tired in the sixth and junior Nelson Lopes worked his way out of a jam. Offensively, Mineola scored twice in the first inning. Mike DeStefano and Pat Gaffney both scored on errors. The Mustangs scored twice more in the second inning when DeStefano and Owens drove in runs. Mineola broke open the game with a six-run fifth inning. Senior second baseman Billy Campagna connected on a three-run homer.

Mineola ran its crossover win streak to three with a 6-0 win over Hewlett. Tiago Rodrigues allowed just one hit going the distance. He also extended his scoreless streak to 19 innings and struck out 10 Hewlett batters along the way. Derek Webber drove in the first two runs of the game with an opposite field double. DeStefano then punched a single to left and scored Webber. DeStefano scored later in the inning when he and Owens executed a double steal. Kevin Tiseo also had a perfect day at the plate with two singles and a double.

Mineola next faced the top ranked team in Nassau County in the next crossover game. Defending state champion Garden City, though, knew they had been in a battle before finally prevailing 6-3. During the pre-season, Mineola also gave Garden City all it could handle in a scrimmage. Mustangs starting pitcher Mike Santopetro had some control troubles, but he hung in there, allowing just one run in the first two innings despite finding himself in bases loaded jams. Mineola got on the board in the first inning when Derek Webber drilled his first homer of the season to left centerfield. The game was tied again at two before Garden City took the lead when the Mustangs committed a few errors. In the fifth, Kevin Tiseo drove in Chris Lyons with a double, but Garden City prevailed.

The Mustangs bounced back from that defeat by mauling Southside 15-5. Mineola banged out 19 hits and broke open the game right way by scoring 10 runs in the first three innings. The game also featured the first birdie is baseball. Derek Webber scalded a long fly to centerfield. The very fine Southside centerfielder tried to track down the missile, but he got tangled up in a flock of Canada geese and fell down as the ball sailed over his head to the fence. While Webber was rounding second base, the fielder picked up the ball and fired it toward the infield. But, the throw hit a goose in mid-air. The ball fell straight to the earth and Webber cruised around the bases with a great assist from those pesky geese.

Webber, Mike DeStefano and Chris Lyons each had three hits while Mike Bencivenga scored three times and Billy Campagna scored twice. Junior Nelson Lopes picked up the win in relief of Mark Levy. So, Mineola won four of the five crossover games.

"I am extremely pleased with our young pitching staff of Rodrigues, Levy, Lopes and Santopetro. This allows us to keep the core of our fielders together. Our first base job seems to have been won by junior John Cloghessy, who is doing a great job and has made some very impressive plays. If the team continues to play well defensively, the conference title can be ours as well as a high playoff seed and maybe a home playoff game for our seniors," said Coach Helms Bohringer.

The coach went on to thank all of those attending the games in cold weather. "The kids enjoy playing in front of a crowd," Coach Bohringer said.