Connell's bat leads Oceanside past East Meadow

Mike Connell doesn't need a lesson on what the role of a designated hitter is. The Oceanside senior is aware his job is to hit and because he hasn't produced like he envisioned it has been tough for him to digest.

Connell had surgery to remove bone chips from his right knee in August before playing football and had the same procedure done in November to help get him ready for baseball. Fortunately for Connell, there's still some baseball left and he's one of the reasons Oceanside won a playoff game for the first time since 2005.

Connell went 3-for-4 with four RBIs for host Oceanside in a 9-6 win over No. 9 East Meadow Saturday in the first round of the Nassau Class AA playoffs. Oceanside (8-11-1) will play at No. 2 Calhoun Monday in Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinals.

"It's been a long season for me hitting wise," Connell said. "That's not what my team expected from me, so I woke up this morning and said I have to hit. I'm a DH and that's what I am supposed to do. My teammates came up to me after the game and said they have been waiting all season for that."

Said Oceanside coach Andy Morris: "He's a team leader. He has been hurt and came back thinking he was going to be our catcher and was disappointed by that, but he's stayed positive."

Connell hit an RBI double in the second inning and had a run-scoring single in the fourth to bring the Sailors within 4-2. Eighth-seeded Oceanside broke it open with a seven-run fifth to take a 9-4 lead. Connell hit a two-run single to make it 7-4.

"We've been hitting the past few games," Connell said. "It didn't matter who we faced. They could have brought in Randy Johnson. We were ready to hit."

SEE PHOTOSOceanside 9, East Meadow 6

Nick Iadevaio has also been plagued by an injury. He missed five games with a hip injury and returned Thursday with two hits. Iadevaio went 2-for-3 with a walk, including a two-run double in the fifth to give Oceanside a 5-4 lead.

"This is what we really needed," Iadevaio said. "It's a whole new season now. We didn't have the season we wanted, but we did something we haven't done in a while."

Oceanside starter Danny Frisch allowed a grand slam in the first inning to Kyle Berger, but rebounded to go six innings, allowing four hits and five walks with four strikeouts. He retired eight of his last 10 batters. Erik Kondak came on with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh and got a 4-6-3 double play and a pop-up to get the save.

"It wasn't a big deal," Frisch said of the grand slam. "I couldn't think about it much. I just did what I normally do. I just tried my best to keep them off the bases."

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- May

He did and Connell cleaned them up.