Ascher coolly pitches Mattituck to B crown

Greg Siliris and his Mattituck teammates made sure ice stayed wrapped around the left arm of Steven Ascher the past few days. Ascher pitched five innings Thursday in Mattituck's county championship win and was going on short rest Sunday.

When the team went to dinner Thursday night, Ascher went home to ice. The next day, he stayed home to ice his arm and when several of the Tuckers were at Siliris' house Saturday, they didn't let Ascher do anything except apply ice to his arm. It worked.

Ascher threw a one-hitter, walked none and struck out 13 as Mattituck defeated Oyster Bay, 8-0, in the Long Island Class B baseball championship at Farmingdale State. Mattituck will play the winner of Briarcliff-Spackenkill at a site to be determined Tuesday in the Southeast Regional final. The winner advances to the state semifinals Saturday in Binghamton.

"Right after Thursday's game, I said I was going to start," Ascher said. "My arm felt perfect. I iced for hours each day. It's my best pitching this year."

Ascher seems to shine in the big spots. He tipped in a shot at the buzzer to give Mattituck a one-point win over Malverne in the LIC Class B basketball finals. Ascher has dominated on the diamond with a 0.56 ERA coming in and improved to 11-0 with 116 strikeouts in 68 innings. He threw 87 pitches, 61 for strikes, and struck out five of the final six.

"I think this was his best pitching and it was perfect because it was in such a big game," said Siliris, who homered in the fifth. "He was blowing the fastball by people and hitting the corners."

Mattituck coach Steve DeCaro was worried because it was the first time Ascher pitched on short rest.

SEE PHOTOSMattituck 8, Oyster Bay 0

"I had a lot of concerns," DeCaro said. "We have been telling everybody all year what a great pitcher he is and he showed it. We would have liked to pull him out of the game Thursday, but couldn't. There was never a doubt he wanted the ball. He would never accept the fact that someone else would pitch. We knew this was his game. Imagine if he was fresh."

Ascher retired the first nine batters and the leadoff hitter reached on an error to start the fourth. The next hitter tried to bunt and Ascher made a diving catch. Dillon Robinson singled with one out in the fifth for Oyster Bay (22-2), which had its 22-game winning streak snapped.

Yianni Rauseo hit a three-run double on a full count in the bottom of the first to give Mattituck (19-5) a 3-0 lead. John Schultz executed a perfect suicide squeeze that went for a single in the fourth to make it 4-0.

So will Ascher pitch Tuesday?

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"I am not pitching Tuesday," Ascher said laughing.