Jackson, Connetquot feed off intensity in win

Connetquot baseball is intense about its intensity.

The Thunderbirds were intense when they batted around in the second, staking an 8-1 lead against No. 8 Ward Melville (14-7) in the first round of the Suffolk Class AA playoffs. They were downright rowdy - clanging on the fence and standing on the dugout bench - in the bottom of the inning, when the home-plate umpire told them to quiet down (again). And they were euphoric in the third, when Kenny Jackson's two-out, bases-loaded double drove in two and paced Connetquot to a 13-1 lead.

That type of display can only be sustained for so long, especially in yesterday's three-hour ordeal at Ward Melville. No. 9 Connetquot relented, and the Patriots scored six times in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to 13-12, but the Thunderbirds (14-7) held on to take the first game in Suffolk's double-elimination format.

This, despite Ward Melville's Matt LaRocca's two grand slams, one to provide all the runs in the fourth, and one to cap the scoring in the seventh. Dan Treadwell came in with two outs and induced a groundout to end the game.

"You've got to get intense," said James McKenna, who was 2-for-4, with two runs and an RBI. "It helps."

Jackson laughed when asked about his team, which, in the early going, treated every pitch with either raucous delight or abject scorn.

"Those two innings that we were intense, we scored 13 runs," he said. "In the next one, we scored none."

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- May

The pitching also suffered later in the game. Ryan Lewis, relieving starter Jim Giuliano in the seventh, walked the first batter he faced and hit the next. Nick Nunziato doubled home a run later in the inning. Adam Schuster's sacrifice fly made it 13-8. The next two runners reached on a hit-by-pitch and a walk to load the bases for LaRocca's second grand slam.

"We really didn't need that," said Anthony Ambrosini, the interim coach. His father, Bob, is recovering from surgery and may be available for Connetquot's next game against No. 1 Lindenhurst at 4 p.m. Monday.

"The walks hurt us. We needed to throw strikes." Still, it was quite an initiation for the younger Ambrosini: "Yeah, it's been pretty exciting," he said.

Especially in the early going. Jesse Simisich, Giuliano, McKenna, Joe Russo and Jackson each had RBI hits in the second. Jackson went 4-for-4, with two runs and four RBIs. The Thunderbirds knocked out LaRocca, the starter, after 11/3 innings.

Next on the horizon is Lindenhurst. Lindenhurst took two out of three in the regular-season meeting but, Jackson said, this is a new age.

"They're a good team, but we're a completely different team than we were in March," Jackson said. "We're hitting the ball more."

And what about that other thing? "Oh yeah," Jackson said, beaming. "Our intensity is at a whole new level."