Cold Spring Harbor earns long-awaited trip to Long Island Class B baseball championship game 

   The wait is over. The Cold Spring Harbor baseball is going back to the Long Island championship game.

   The Seahawks swept top-seeded East Rockaway in two games at SUNY-Old Westbury last week to win its first Nassau Class B title since 2005.

    “It was a combination of timely hitting, gutsy pitching and a stout defense,” said Cold Spring Harbor coach Rich Greeney, in his seventh year. “We pretty much put it all together against a very good team that took two of three from us during the regular season.”

     Cold Spring Harbor (19-5) will play with the winner of Center Moriches–Mattituck for the Long Island Class B championship/Southeast State Regional at St. Joseph’s College on June 6.

     The Seahawks earned an 8-6 win in game one to put all the pressure on East Rockaway in the second game of the series on Thursday. Freshman starter Drew Munn, who was called up during the season to complete the staff, gave the Seahawks four solid innings and left with a 4-3 lead.

    “Drew kept us in it and did a nice job for a very young guy,” Greeney said. “It was scoreless the rest of the way when he handed it over to the seniors. Luca Magariello threw two scoreless innings and Jon Cosmai shut the door in the seventh.”

    Munn scattered five hits and struck out three for the win.

    East Rockaway (17-5), which qualified for the state Class C tournament in 2018, opened the scoring with a run in the second inning. Gabe Del Valle doubled and scored on a two-out single by Chris Perri for the 1-0 lead.

    Cold Spring Harbor responded immediately in the bottom of the frame with four runs on three hits and two walks. Theo Farynick singled and with outs Mike Masciello and Shane Mitchell drew consecutive walks to load the bases.

     Alex Brancato singled up the middle to score two runs and Noah Porcelain added a single to left to score two more for the 4-1 lead.

    East Rockaway scored twice in the third inning to narrow the gap to 4-3.
    Magariello came on in the fifth for Munn. He allowed a walk and a single but a fielder’s choice and a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning. Junior shortstop Rich Casaccio gathered a grounder in the hole and made a neat throw to senior second baseman Theo Farynick, who made the pivot, and a strong throw to first baseman Jon Cosmai for the defensive gem.

      “That was the turning point in the game,” Greeney said. “We knew at that point we had a good shot at winning the game and ultimately the series.”

     Cold Spring Harbor went to Cosmai to close it out. And Cosmai delivered, stranding the tying run on second base, with two strikeouts to end it.

    And now they can savor the win and wait. This time the wait is for a shot at the Long Island crown.

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.