Tyler Cox's arm, bat lead Clarke past previously unbeaten Seaford

After finding slight trouble in the early going, Tyler Cox spent the rest of the afternoon causing plenty of his own.

The senior starting pitcher did it all on Tuesday, as he struck out 10 and allowed four hits in five shutout innings, and also hit his fourth home run of the season for Clarke in a 10-0 victory over Seaford at Westbury’s BOCES Field in a Nassau Conference V baseball game.

Cox allowed back-to-back, two-out hits in the opening inning that landed runners on second and third, but responded with a strikeout to keep the Vikings off the board.

From that point forward, the West Virginia commit cruised..

"The fastball was definitely working for me," Cox said. "I was able to spot it where I needed to and get a few guys chasing on sliders. And it kind of worked the whole game."

Clarke improved to 7-I on the season, while previously undefeated Seaford fell to 10-1.

Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, Cox belted a solo homer to right-center before Lucas Rubenstein hit a solo shot of his own two batters later.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Clarke vs. Seaford baseball

"He started me off with a curve so I left that," Cox said. "Then I was behind in the count and I was in a position where I basically just had to see it fast and if it was slow adjust to it. And he went fast, it was right there, so I kind of just let it rip."

Sean Welsh widened the gap in the fourth, as he followed a pair of two-out walks with a three-run blast off the leftfield scoreboard to give the Rams a 6-0 advantage.

"It seemed that they were pitching around Tyler after his home run," Welsh said. "Coach [Tom Abruscato] called me over and gave the me the confidence I needed to get my hands around on the inside fastball and drive it over the fence."

Clarke tacked on the final four runs in the fifth to seal the victory via run-rule.

Abruscato touched on what has enabled Cox to take his pitching to the next level this season.

"Tyler’s not only one of the best players in the county, or Long Island, but in the state," Abruscato said. "He’s a good kid, bears down and is very levelheaded…He’s really worked hard on his pitching and he’s been able to make adjustments. Last year the feel for it wasn’t there, but now you can tell that he can make adjustments after one pitch."