North Shore Runs All Over Mineola 11-5

Written by Rick Karas: mineola@antonnews.com Friday, 13 April 2012 00:00

Mineola baseball falls to 0-3 on the season

Talk about getting the runaround. Before they even took a turn at bat, the Mineola Mustangs found themselves in the hole early against North Shore Vikings, with the Vikings stealing bases at will. North Shore ran all day, and sped to an 11-5 win in Conference A baseball action on Tuesday, April 3. The loss drops the Mustangs to 0-3 on the year. North Shore is 2-0.

Back to back walks were all it took to get the visitors going in the first, with both runners finding themselves in scoring position on a combination of steals and throwing errors trying to prevent them. It would be a recurring theme throughout the game, and three straight hits made it 4-0 Vikings in a matter of minutes.

Mineola tried to make a game of it when the Mustangs came to the plate, as Craig Weber laced a leadoff triple to left, and scored on a Nick Cerame triple. Tommy Breslin singled home Cerame, and the North Shore lead was cut in half 4-2.

Unfortunately, Cerame couldn’t bring his bat to the mound, as the junior starter got into more trouble in the second, giving up a two-run single to Liam Joyce. That would be all for Cerame, as Anthony Riccardi came over from third to pitch in relief.

Riccardi fared a bit better on the mound, but the Vikings still ran wild on him and catcher Vinny Bieniek, leading to more runs.

“Our pitching staff doesn’t have a lot of experience, and they don’t hold runners on very well,” Mineola coach Helms Bohringer said. “We’re not giving our catcher a chance to even throw anybody out with the way we’re too slow to the plate.”

Mineola had a chance to get back in it in the third, as Pat Lynn walked the bases loaded, but outfielder Chris Ryan grounded out to end the threat.

After Riccardi left in the seventh, Breslin and John Lusardi came in to relieve, as opening week has became open auditions for Mineola pitchers, with Bohringer trying to find the right mix as the season revs up.

“I’m trying to find who wants to start and who wants to close and many of our pitchers don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” he said. “I’ve got to find starters, [but] the best these guys are giving me is two innings.”

Bohringer feels 0-3 is not the end of the world, but in baseball, it can get late pretty early, the saying goes, and the Mustangs hope to get in the win column next week, with games against Manhasset and Floral Park on the horizon.

“I was hoping to go 1-1 this week, and next week we have games I think for us are going to be good,” the coach stated. “We can’t take anybody lightly because we haven’t beaten anybody yet, so next week is huge for us.”