Andrew Asaro's complete game lifts Wheatley baseball to Game 1 win in Nassau Class B title series

Wheatley played three games in a series against Oyster Bay at the beginning of May and won none. The Wildcats were even on the wrong end of one of Dominic Carleo’s three no-hitters this season.

But now they were getting a second swing at the Baymen in a much bigger series — Nassau Class B baseball’s best-of-three championship series. And yes, the Wildcats were facing the undefeated Carleo again Tuesday in Game 1 at Farmingdale State.

They threw their strong No. 2 starter, Andrew Asaro. The junior righthander ended up allowing four hits and fanning six in a complete-game performance, while Carleo struggled with his command across 4 2/3.

Wheatley emerged with a 4-3 win on Noah Fiorillo’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth.

The Wildcats (18-5) will be back at Farmingdale State to play at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, looking to win a championship with an experienced team that fell in the title round to Seaford last season, a team that rallied after losing Game 1 in the semis to Carle Place last week. And they are set to start their No. 1 guy, Connor Quinn.

“After being swept by these guys during the season, it’s an unbelievable feeling for us to really work together as a team and beat them in Game 1 and know that we’ve got our ace going (Wednesday),” Asaro said.

Carleo (7-1), who had one perfect game, allowed four runs, five hits and seven walks. The Pace-bound senior righty also threw four wild pitches.

It was tied it 3 before Fiorillo delivered his RBI fly to right-center.

Asaro (6-1) preserved the lead after the Baymen (18-4) had runners on second and third with no outs in the sixth.

“He just showed everybody that he’s a guy you can count on in big spots,” Wheatley coach David Burke said.

After the first two Wildcats batters of the game walked and advanced on a wild pitch, Danny Gillette launched a rocket to right-center for a two-run triple. And he scored on Anthony Saulino’s sac fly — 3-0, right off the bat.

“I knew what (Carleo) was capable of; he’s a great pitcher,” Gillette said. “As a team, we had an approach of just seeing the ball and driving it.”

Tommy Rizzuto countered for Oyster Bay with a tying three-run homer to left-center in the third. But this was Wheatley’s day.

“You come out and you get the first game against a really good team,” Burke said. “You know it’s going to be a battle. They throw Dom Carleo, who’s just been lights-out for them all year. We’ve had a hard time in the last two years against him putting offense together. We knew if we could strike early, we’d be put in a really good position.”