Final: Wantagh 5, Clarke 2
WP: Christian Danzilo (CG, 2 R, 7 Ks)RBI hits by Cole Spinelli, Frank McNally, Michael Avitabile and a sac fly by Ryan Conigliaro provided the offense
Wantagh improves to 15-1 and takes the first game of a crucial series pic.twitter.com/ykFgjKmqDB
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2025
Clarke and Wantagh are no strangers. They are two of the premier baseball programs in Nassau County – and you can expand that to across the island, really. They squared off in last year’s County Finals at Farmingdale State College with Clarke coming out on top in a thrilling series. This week the teams entered the final week of the regular series in dead heat at 14-1. The team that won two of three would secure the coveted No. 1 seed in Nassau A-I.
The Wantagh Warriors, led by southpaw LHP Christian Danzilo, took the all-important step of winning game 1 by the score of 5-2. Danzilo went the distance, to improve to 6-0 on the season, allowing two runs on five hits and 7 strikeouts – including the last out of the game.
“We were very excited to play these guys – we know they are very good. We wanted to come back after they got us in counties last year and all we wanted to do was win.”
Top 1: RBI single by Cole Spinelli scores Tommy Wunderlich and Wantagh takes a quick 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/rzh3UTrw8l
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2025
It was a great pitching matchup between Danzilo and Matthew Kurz of Clarke, a junior right-handed pitcher.
Wantagh wasted little time getting on the board. After a strikeout to start the game, Tommy Wunderlich and Ryan Conigliaro singled. Wunderlich tagged up on a fly out and Cole Spinelli drove him in on an RBI single to right to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Danzilo worked around an E8 to start the game and retired the next three batters including his first strikeout of the game. He also singled to right center in the top of the second inning, but Kurz induced a 6-4-3 twin killing to end the inning.
Mid 3: Ryan Conigliaro hits a sac fly to score Charles Cascino and Wantagh leads 2-0 pic.twitter.com/RQnOFnyiq9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 12, 2025
In the top of the third, Charles Cascino led the inning off with a hit by pitch and advanced to third on Tommy Wunderlich‘s second hit of the day. The following batter, Ryan Conigliaro, hit a sac fly to center to score Cascino and extend the lead to 2-0. Kurz ended the inning with a strikeout.
Clarke’s offense came to life in the bottom of the third when Craig Weydig led off with an infield single and AJ Cumbo walked to advance him to second. Kurz helped himself with a well-struck two-run double to center. All of a sudden the game was tied. Danzilo, however, quickly stopped their momentum with a 4-6 double play on a lineup and after Michael Iadevaia singled to center, he was caught stealing to end the inning.
Following the game, Sachs commended his team’s defense with helping snuff out some rallies.
“We did a good job defensively cutting down their running game. I really enjoyed that we played fundamental baseball.”
The Warriors immediately answered back when Frank McNally squibbed one in front of the mount, he beat out Kurz’ throw to first and it allowed Michael Avitabile to score. He had reached safely on a one-out error by the third baseman.
With the score 3-2, Danzilo locked in and was lights out the rest of the way. He worked around a two-out error in the fourth inning and fired a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts in the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, Clarke ran themselves out of an inning. James Millman hit a two-out single with a runner on first. As Luke Walker reached third base, he attempted to advance to second and was thrown out to end the inning.
That was as close as they’d get. Michael Avitabile’s RBI double extended the lead to 4-2 and a fielder’s choice would make it a three-run lead.
Danzilo slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to improve Wantagh to 15-1 in league play and put themselves on the cusp of the conference title.
“It’s an important game to win but we didn’t put any extra emphasis on the series. We really didn’t. We kinda think we’ll maybe see them again in two weeks so we are just focusing in on playing good baseball against a very good team and I think we did that. We played fundamental baseball.
