Anderson's pitching propels West Islip

For West Islip's baseball team, which has fought off elimination for four days now, the theme for this postseason is shaping up to be downright Shakespearian: all about tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow.

The desire to play another day is what prompted Chris Anderson to ask for the ball on two days' rest and what propelled the Lions to a small ball-generated run against Patchogue-Medford ace Matt Vogel Saturday.

Indeed, 10th-seeded West Islip considers itself nothing if not scrappy. After the Lions' 4-0 win over the third-seeded Raiders in the fourth round of the Class AA losers' bracket, they can call themselves title contenders, too.

The Lions (18-7) scored a run without a hit in the third inning and three more on freshman Sam Ilario's two-out triple in the sixth to end Patchogue-Medford's season at 16-8.

West Islip will play No. 8 Commack at 11 a.m. Monday in a losers'-bracket semifinal. No. 5 Eastport-South Manor now is the highest remaining seed in Class AA.

Anderson, who started Wednesday and recorded two outs in relief Friday, allowed three hits and one walk, striking out six. He is, to quote coach Shawn Rush, "a warrior."

"He asked for the ball," Rush said. "He has the heart of a lion."

SEE PHOTOSWest Islip 4, Patchogue-Medford 0

While that may be, Anderson and the Lions aren't quite kings of the Suffolk jungle.

"We may not be the most talented team," said Rush, whose team came back from a 7-2 deficit to beat Hauppauge, 11-9, on Friday, "but we're mentally tougher than most teams. We pride ourselves in being scrappy. We're not going to back down to anyone."

Those aren't empty words. Tommy Woodburn led off the third with a walk and moved to second when, with the infield back, Joe Watson bunted hard up the first-base line. Woodburn reached third on a passed ball and scored on JoJo Valentine's slow grounder to second -- sending the bench into a gleeful tizzy that still was reverberating in the next inning.

"With each win, we're a little more pumped," Anderson said. "We call ourselves the road warriors."

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West Islip also proved to be a rollicking, effervescent crew. It's enthusiasm borne out of necessity: After losing to seventh-seeded Sachem North on Tuesday, the Lions had no room for error. The team, which gets a day off Sunday, upset the second, ninth, sixth and third seeds in four straight elimination games to go 4-1 in the five-day stretch.

"Right now, the best part is that we get a day off," Rush said. "We're going every day with our backs up against the wall."

That was especially true Saturday. Vogel allowed one hit through 51/3 innings before walking the bases loaded in the sixth. Then Dan Tierney gave up Ilario's back-breaking hit, a scorching liner to right-centerfield.

"It's mentally exhausting," Ilario said. "But we love the excitement . . . No one respects us. It makes us want it more. We're extreme underdogs."

Perhaps, but the Lions now are only two wins away from the AA final. Looks as though all that sound and fury soon might be signifying something.