Sperruzzi gets victory and 3 hits for SWR

Dan Sperruzzi gloved the final comebacker and fired to first for the last out. The Hartford-bound senior just punctuated a gutty complete game as host Shoreham-Wading River beat Sayville, 8-2, Monday in a Suffolk League VI baseball game.

Sperruzzi, who struggled early, settled down to scatter eight hits and strike out five against an aggressive Sayville lineup. He retired 9 of 12 batters from the fourth through the sixth innings as the Wildcats, who'd erased two one-run deficits, scored four times in the fifth and twice in the sixth.

"I was flying open and not hitting my spots," said the righthander, who battled all game and threw 115 pitches. "We made some adjustments and corrected the problem."

Sperruzzi didn't just contribute on the mound. He also had three hits and two RBIs, including a two-run double off the leftfield fence to break a 2-2 tie and ignite the four-run fifth.

"Oh, that one felt good," Sperruzzi said. "It was great to contribute offensively."

Sayville opened the scoring in the top of the first when Tom Dieckhoff walked, stole second and scored when Mike Hewson lined a single to left. Shoreham, which eliminated Sayville from last year's Class A playoffs, answered in the bottom of the inning. Tom McAlary drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on the first of Andrew Nicchi's three hits and scored on a double play grounder to tie the score at 1.

"It's two really good-hitting teams," Shoreham-Wading River coach Sal Mignano said. "And we had some guys get very good swings today."

SEE PHOTOSShoreham-Wading River 8, Sayville 2

Hewson, last year's Silver Slugger Award winner, singled, stole second and scored on Rich Millwater's one-out single to give the Golden Flashes a 2-1 lead in the third.

Shoreham came right back. Nicchi drilled a double to leftcenter, and freshman Nick Bottari drove a single to rightfield to tie the score at 2. Bottari, who had 39 RBIs as an eighth-grader last year, is the Wildcats' run producer.

"I'm in the three-hole in the lineup and my job is to drive in runs," Bottari said. "There are expectations because of last year and my goal is to duplicate or do better than last year."

Bottari added a single in the fifth, when the Wildcats took the lead for good. After Sperruzzi's tiebreaking hit, Michael O'Reilly added a two-run single for a 6-2 lead.

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"Bottari is just a tremendous player for a ninth-grader and we can put all these pieces together to win the county title," Sperruzzi said. "We definitely have a shot."