Southampton's Alex Antilety settled down after a rocky first inning, giving up zero runs and three hits in innings two through six.

Islip - In the visiting dugout, there was neither the thrill of victory nor the agony of defeat. The Southampton baseball team couldn't quite figure how it should feel. It had lost, rarely an acceptable outcome if ever, but in its 6-4 loss to two-time defending Class A champ Islip it had battled and proven that, save for an uncharacteristic careless first inning, it might just be the superior team.

Best of all, its season wasn't over. A series of seeing-eye singles and Mariner miscues added up to a six-run eruption for the host Buccaneers but they were blanked from then on out. Southampton battled all the way back to the point where it brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. That it was on the precipice of triumphing stung yet their morale remained intact going blow for blow with the county's elite.

"It is encouraging going into the next game that we can play this well against a good team," senior Alex Antilety said. "They've won Class A three years in a row and they're one of the best programs on Long Island. If you take away that first inning, we win 4-0 and that puts us right up there. At the same time, it does sting. If you lose on errors, it's not our team playing out there, it's mishaps and bad breaks, just mental errors. It's rough to let one get away like that."

In spite of the loss, Southampton's season is still alive. The Mariners, champions of Class B, will face Nassau winner Wheatley in the Long Island title game on Monday, June 8, at Hauppauge. If they should win, they would then travel to the field of either the Section I or IX victor for the right to reach the state final four in Binghamton next weekend. Meanwhile, Islip will vie for the Class A title against either Island Trees or Clarke on the 8th; a win there and it goes upstate.

Sophomore Colin Buoniello looped a single inside the right field line for an RBI single in the fifth.

After giving up six runs in the first, the Mariners (19-7) began to chip away at the deficit. They loaded the bases with nobody out in their half of the second, and although they plated one – courtesy of a Niall Wood sacrifice fly – the momentum had nevertheless begun to swing in their favor. In the fifth, Southampton knocked around reliever Tom Cronau, bringing in a pair. Ricky Wesnofske kept the inning alive by hustling down the line to prevent a 1-6-3 double play. The next hitter, Chris Pike, hammered a 1-1 pitch over the left fielder's head for an RBI double. Alex Antilety walked to put runners at the corners with two down, and sophomore Colin Buoniello dropped a single just inside the right field line that brought Pike home and made the score 6-3.

Southampton had one final try at bat in the seventh. Wesnofske singled to left center off reliever Brian Papszycki with one out to start the rally. He swiped second, which allowed him to score easily on another Pike two-bagger. Southampton had two cracks at a game-tying long ball but Papszycki induced a pop-up and received a questionable strike three call on a checked swing to end the game.

Second baseman Andrew Shimkus slides to his left and throws to first for the out.

Islip (19-9) scored six runs in the first on four hits, two walks and two big Mariner errors. The bases were loaded with one out when Tom Kriss hit a slow grounder deep in the hole wide of third. Pike went to a knee and rushed to get the force at second but the throw sailed wide of Shimkus. After Steve Provenzano singled in another run, Antilety fielded a comebacker but missed his target at third base, making the lead 4-0. Andrew Germann piled on two more with a seeing-eye single to right, just evading the dive of Shimkus.

"We came out and these guys were a little nervous, like they didn't belong on the same field as these guys or something like that," Head Coach Ike Birdsall said. "You could see in the way that Alex pitched. Everyone was uneasy."

Otherwise, Antilety was lights-out, throwing five scoreless innings after the blow-up. In the sixth, he was supplanted by another senior, Brandon Alvarado, who tossed another scoreless inning of relief in the playoffs.

At least the pitcher's mind was eased with the job done by catcher Jeb Schmidt. With quick feet and spot-on throws, the junior wiped out 4-of-4 would-be base stealers, including Provenzano, his opposite behind the plate. Schmidt has been a rock for the pitching staff the last two seasons and he enjoyed his best game throwing perhaps ever and on a big stage as well.

Southampton's Niall Wood goes all out of the fly on a Matt Kriss foul pop-up ...

"The pitchers love throwing to him," Head Coach Ike Birdsall said. "He calls a good game; there aren't too may times that I need to give him some signals. I let him go on his own and he usually keeps those guys off balance, knowing what pitchers throw what, what their strong points are. He's a valuable asset back there."

"He's been working hard all year long, doing everything back there," Assistant Coach Gary Pike added. "That's a great game. There aren't too many times you throw out four guys in a game."

Antilety again gets the ball for the Long Island title game, with Pike scheduled to start Tuesday if the Mariners are fortunate enough to advance. With their nine-game win streak now history, they'll look to build on Tuesday's experience in getting prepared for and in the game against Wheatley.

Which he snags down the right field line!

"We won the game 4-0 if we played like we did every other inning," Antilety said, "but it's a learning experience. They're a bigger school, but we know we can compete. We have to come out on Monday and hopefully play better."

ISLIP 6, SOUTHAMPTON 4
Suffolk County Small Schools Championship, at Islip
SOUTHAMPTON 010 020 1 – 4 6 3
ISLIP 600 000 X – 6 8 0
S, Alex Antilety, Brandon Alvarado (6) and Jeb Schmidt; I, Matt Espinal, Tom Cronau (5), Brian Papszycki (6) and Steve Provenzano. WP – Espinal; LP – Antilety. 2B – S, Chris Pike 2, Wesnofske.
Records: Southampton 19-7; Islip 19-9.