South Side's Howard redeems himself in win over Glen Cove

In the top of the sixth inning, after dropping one throw and failing to short-hop another leading to three unearned runs, South Side first baseman James Howard fiercely pounded his glove in disgust. In the bottom of the sixth, he pounded the baseball with equal ferocity.

With his father, Mets executive vice president of business operations David Howard, watching, the younger Howard crushed a game-tying two-run double, then scored the go-ahead run moments later. The Cyclones rallied for a 12-10 win over Glen Cove Thursday after trailing 6-2 and 10-7 at Barasch Field in Rockville Centre in a Nassau Conference A-I game. Howard's big hit tied it at 10.

"In the on-deck circle, I was thinking about it," Howard said of his defensive woes. "But once I got in the batter's box, my mind was blank. I was just looking for a pitch to drive."

He got a fastball in his happy zone and belted it into right-centerfield, his second game-tying hit of the back-and-forth slugfest. "When I first hit it, I thought the rightfielder would run it down," Howard said. "I was hoping it would get through. We were hitting the ball well all day and I thought we could come back."

With the wind blowing out, Howard had plenty of company in the hit parade between two teams who are playoff-bound despite 2-9 records in Nassau's large-school league. Glen Cove mashed 13 hits and had a six-run second. Richie Maccarone led the Big Red with three hits and two RBIs. Will Bermel had a home run and three RBIs for the Cyclones and cleanup hitter Max Rosing had a home run, double, triple and three runs.

"It was a fun game for both teams," Rosing said. "The wind was blowing out, which was good for the hitters. And we all know each other from playing summer ball together."

When Rosing came up in the fourth inning of a 6-6 game with a runner on second and two outs, he was intentionally walked. "That's my single," he joked of nearly getting the cycle.

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"It was the smart move. I would've pitched around him, too," said South Side manager Keith Lessuk. "Everyone knows about him. He was an All-County catcher last year but he's been struggling this year. Hopefully this was his breakout game."

A lot of guys fattened up their batting averages Thursday. "Seeing what the wind was doing, we expected some trouble on defense in the outfield," Lessuk said. "It almost felt like whoever batted last would win the game."