Wantagh, Seaford Baseball Teams Shining on the Diamond

The Wantagh and Seaford baseball teams faced each other Thursday under the lights at Farmingdale State for their annual non-league game in a season that has seen both teams shine on the diamond.

Wantagh got the best of the friendly neighborhood rivalry with two runs in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrafice fly by Mike Stack and followed by an Adam Aponte RBI single to eek out a 3-2 victory and improve to 10-0. Despite the loss, Seaford is also in the midst of a solid start to the 2013 season with a 6-3-1 record.

Longtime Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said a major reason for the Warriors' success thus far has been team chemistry, which was bolstered by an annual trip to Baltimore during spring break. 

"We spend endless hours together and it's fun," said Sachs, whose team gets together for breakfast every Saturday. "They practice long hours and they enjoy it." 

Wantagh has been bolstered mainly by its prolific starting pitching rotation of Kevin Specht (4-0), Mike Davanzo (4-0) and Adam Aponte (2-0). The Warriors entered Thursday's game against Seaford having not given up a run its previous five games. 

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Seaford has been led by senior tri-captains Nick Fischetti, Michael Breheny and Chris Sano, who head coach Mike Milano said have provided great leadership qualities. Another key has been the torrid hitting of junior pitcher/center fielder Jake Williams. 

“We’ve been hitting better this year than we did last year,” Milano said. “We have a lot of experience.” 

Both Wantagh and Seaford are hoping for greater postseason success in 2013. Wantagh dropped a heartbreaking quarterfinal series to rival Island Trees in three games last season with Seaford’s seeing its championship dreams dashed in a second round loss at Bethpage. 

“There is a lot of hunger,” Sachs said. “They take pride in being part of the program and having a good tradition and trying to one-up the other teams from the past years.”