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Tullo and Wantagh Put Together Unbelievable Comeback in the Seventh to Stay Alive and Advance to the Nassau County Class A Championship

by John Sullivan

Memorial Day turned into a beautiful day with a remarkable finish to match. Wantagh senior Ryan Tullo crushed his second homer of the day; a walk-off grand slam to send the Warriors to the Nassau A Finals.

No. 2 seed Wantagh took on No. 3 Wheatley in the Nassau County Class A semifinals after splitting games 1 and 2. With their season on the line, Wantagh entrusted the freshman, Thomas Terravecchia to get it done on the bump, while Wheatley gave the ball to senior, TJ Samuel. 

In the top of the first, Terravecchia showed what kind of pitcher he was, and that is one who attacks hitters and consistently works ahead in counts. The first three batters he faced struck out looking, struck out swinging, and then popped out to second for a quick 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the first, Samuel started things off by inducing a quick pop out, but then was met with the challenge of getting out Lynn University commit, Ryan Tullo. This challenge proved too difficult, as Tullo took a middle-middle fastball dead center over the fence to give Wantagh the early 1-0 lead. After a Sal Ansaldi double and a two-out walk from Michael Amodio, Samuel uncorked a wild pitch, but catcher Humphrey Li recovered quickly and Wheatley caught Ansaldi in a rundown while he was trying to score from third to remain down by just 1. 

To begin the second, Terravecchia got an out via pop out once again, but then was taken into the gap for a Humphrey Li triple. Looking for a strikeout to keep Li from scoring, Terravecchia attempted to run a high fastball by Krish Patel for strike three, but Patel was all over the pitch, as he deposited it over the left field fence to reclaim the lead for Wheatley. Luckily for Wantagh, the freshman remained calm on the mound, and got two quick outs following the homer to keep it 2-1. In the bottom of the second, Wantagh once again put runners on base after a Charles Cascino walk and a Matt Rackley single. But, after a pop out bunt for out number two, TJ Samuel executed and forced Wantagh’s lead off batter, Nick Lattanzio to roll over to short to end the second. 

Thomas Terravecchia started off his third inning of work ideally, with a quick groundout and strikeout looking. But, after a hit by pitch and an Alex Golub double, Wheatley’s cleanup batter, PJ O’Connor stepped up looking to add some insurance runs for his team. Needing an out, Terravecchia was able to jam O’Connor for the big pop out and bring Wantagh up to the plate trailing by 1 with their heart of the order due up. Against the strongest part of the lineup, Samuel did not waiver, as he forced ullo to ground out and Ansaldi to fly out to center. After hitting Joe Riso with a pitch, Samuel was able to quickly settle down and induced a flyout to hold the 2-1 lead for Wheatley after 3. 

For his third time in four innings, Terravecchia once again retired the first two batters of the inning quickly in the top of the fourth. But, Wheatley once again showed resilience with two outs and there were two men in scoring position after a Samuel single and a Niko Koutsoftas ground-rule double. Once again though, the freshman refused to crack on the mound and got Giancarlo Controno to ground out to short for the final out of the top of the fourth. The bottom half of the inning got off to a great start for Wantagh after a lead off walk from Ray Azzarti, but Samuel struck out the next batter he faced. In a crucial moment with the tying run on first, Matt Rackley ripped a double in the left field gap for Wantagh and after holding Azzarti at third, Vinny Napolitano laid down a perfectly executed squeeze bunt to tie things up at 2 in the county semis. After a Lattanzio flyout to center, we had a 2-2 ballgame heading into the final three innings. 

In the top of the fifth, Wheatley was looking for a strong response after losing their lead, and they delivered just that. Lead off batter Casey Quinn got things started with a single up the middle and advanced to third after a sac bunt and an infield single from Golub. With first and third, O’Connor came through in the clutch by driving a fastball the other way for a huge two RBI lead taking double. After stealing third, O’Connor then scored on a wild pitch to extend the Wheatley lead to 5-2. The bottom of the fifth gave Samuel the chance to now pitch with a three-run cushion and despite a lead off hit by pitch, Samuel was able to get three quick outs via a groundout to third, pop out to short, and a strikeout swinging on a perfectly located fastball. 

In the sixth, Wantagh once again put out Terravecchia, and he continued to battle and show heart on the mound. After a one-out single, Terravecchia induced a fielder’s choice groundout from Contorno and walked Quinn. To finish off his outing, Terravecchia once again left base runners stranded by forcing a roll over from Asher Hirsch. Thomas Terravecchia finished his gritty outing with 6 innings and no walks, a very impressive feat for a freshman. Unfortunately for Wantagh, TJ Samuel continued to look strong in his sixth inning of work, as he worked around a lead off walk and got a strikeout and two outs from weak contact to end the sixth. 

The first half of the seventh was extremely promising for Wheatley, as they adjusted well to a Wantagh pitching change, with Golub taking a lead off single the other way and stealing second. After relief pitcher Kyle Biesma notched a strikeout for his first out, Li knocked a single up the middle for Wheatley to extend their lead to 6-2. The offense didn’t stop there either, as  Samuel drove a pitch into left center field for an RBI double to help himself. This allowed Samuel and Wheatley to take a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, needing just three outs to advance to the Nassau County Class A Championship. 

Despite a comfortable 5-run lead and having a reliable senior on the mound, Wheatley wasn’t out of the woods yet. They still had to get the last three outs, which are typically the hardest outs to get, and this showed. To start the bottom of the seventh, Wantagh showed heart, as 5 players in a row worked walks against Samuel to load the bases with the winning run at the plate at 7-4. After the five walks, Wheatley gave the ball over to O’Connor to finish things off, but he walked the first guy he faced to make it 6 walks in a row and a 7-5 ballgame. The next batter O’Connor faced was Charles Cascino, who went down in the count 1-2, but eventually came through with a single into left field to make it 7-6. After Rackley then grounded into a fielder’s choice that stopped the tying run from scoring, Napolitano drove a two strike pitch into left field to tie things up at 7 for Wantagh. Nick Lattanzio then flew out to center, but Charles Cascio wasn’t able to tag up after he took off thinking it was a squeeze play. Not with two outs and the game tied, Wantagh’s star and the same guy who went deep in the first, Ryan Tullo came to the plate. After getting ahead of the count 3-1, Tullo was looking to do damage knowing that any type of hit would send his team to the County Championship. On a 3-1 cookie, the Lynn University commit exploded on a fastball sent it way over the left field fence for a walk off no doubt grand slam to win it 11-7 for Wantagh!

The Warriors move on to the Class A Nassau County championship against undefeated Plainedge as they look to ride this wave into the weekend.