Frank Santeramo's strong start leads Garden City baseball past Calhoun

Garden City’s starting pitcher Frank Santeramo picked up his defense Monday – in the first inning.

The first two Calhoun batters reached on infield errors, and it was time for Santeramo to dig deep and prevent the big inning. He did.

Santeramo induced a fielder’s choice and struck out the next two batters to come out of the inning unscathed. He went on to scatter three hits, hit one batter and strike out nine in a 3-0 shutout over previously undefeated Calhoun in a Nassau Conference II baseball game at Garden City Community Park.

"He was so resilient in the first inning, and it set the tone for the game," Garden City coach Dave Izzo said. "It’s a great way to kick off a four-game week and make a run and get a bye for the playoffs."

Santeramo was pitch efficient, as he threw 84 pitches, including 63 for strikes, and struck out at least one batter in every inning.

"I was hitting spots all game and all three of my pitches were on," said Santeramo, a senior, who will attend SUNY-Maritime. "We had a rough start and had to get through it. It’s a big win for us."

Garden City (8-3) put together a three-run third inning for the only runs of the game. Leadoff man Jack Fanning reached on an error and Joe Wood followed with an infield single to put runners at first and second. After an infield pop out, Pat Heber drilled a long run-scoring double to right-centerfield for the 1-0 lead. Wood fell coming around third base and had to hold leaving runners at second and third base.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: Garden City vs. Calhoun baseball

"Heber has had a few big hits this year," Izzo said. "That was clutch."

Calhoun starter Peter Rogers got another infield pop out, but Santeramo followed with a two-out, two-run single just out of the reach of shortstop Pat Sanchez to make it 3-0.

"We didn’t hit well at all, and these things are going to happen over the course of a season," Calhoun coach Art Canestro said. "We have to shake it off because we play them again on Tuesday."

Calhoun (10-1) never had a base runner reach third base after the first inning in a game that lasted one hour and 32 minutes. Colts reliever Shane Linett allowed two hits and struck out two in two innings of scoreless relief.

The Garden City defense committed three errors in the first six batters but played flawlessly over the final 18 outs. In the sixth inning, Sanchez was hit by a pitch to lead off, but he was erased when the Trojans defense turned a neat 4-6-3 double play.

Wood gathered a two-hop smash off the bat of Rogers, flipped to shortstop Fanning, who fired to Heber, the first baseman, for the double play.

"Pitching and defense wins games," Izzo said. "After we settled down, we had both."

And one big inning of offense.

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.