Smithtown West baseball's Brady Austin finds rhythm in victory over Comsewogue
Smithtown West junior Brady Austin allowed six hits, walked three and struck out three in six innings for his third win of the season on Tuesday April 30, 2024. Credit: Bob Sorensen
It took two innings for Smithtown West lefty Brady Austin to find his rhythm. The junior allowed two runs on four hits in the first two frames and then settled down to retire 12 of the next 14 batters as Smithtown West stormed back for a 10-3 win over visiting Comsewogue on Tuesday in a Suffolk League IV baseball game.
The win allowed Smithtown West (10-3) to seize sole possession of first place. The teams came into the game tied for first place with identical 9-3 records.
“Brady was off earlier on and didn’t have his usual tempo and rhythm,” Smithtown West coach Al Nucci said. “But he settled down and that’s what really good pitchers do. He was forced to battle against a good team. He had better location and was resilient throughout the later innings of the game.”
Austin scattered six hits, walked three and struck out three in six innings for his third win of the season.
“They were getting good swings early in the count and fouling off tougher pitches,” Austin said. “And their hitters were going deep in counts. I had to trust my defense and they came through. Once I established a good rhythm, I felt more comfortable.”
Comsewogue jumped on Austin for two earned runs in the first inning. Senior catcher Kevin Schnupp singled, moved to second when Matt Nowlan walked. Joe Perri and Anthony Manetta followed with run-scoring singles for the 2-0 lead.
Smithtown West responded with a four-run second inning. Chris Theofield reached on a fielder’s choice and Nick Friscia followed with a pop-up to leftfield that was misplayed into a single. James Camilleri drilled a 2-and-1 fastball into rightfield where Manetta tried to make a diving catch. He came up short and the ball rolled to the fence for a one-out, two-run triple to tie the score.
“I’m a big opposite field hitter and like to go the other way,” Camilleri said. “We’re a comeback team so being down a few runs early was no big deal.”
Nick Briffa added an RBI single to make it 3-2 before Austin launched a two-out run-scoring triple for the 4-2 lead.
Smithtown West played some small ball in the third inning to extend the lead. Connor Catania led off with a ground rule double and Christian Chase single putting runners at the corners. Theofield lifted a sac fly to score Catania. After Friscia walked, the runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch. And Camilleri dropped a squeeze bunt to make it 6-2.
“We played small ball and took advantage of some of their mistakes,” Nucci said. “We executed a few bunts, and we’ll need to do that moving forward.”
Smithtown West scored two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Schnupp drilled a solo home run in the fifth for Comsewogue’s final margin.
“This is a big series,” Nucci said. “It’s only one win — but a big one.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
