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Sayville Advances to Class A County Championship With Win Over Shoreham-Wading River

by Trevor Dugan

Defending Suffolk County Class A Champion Sayville High School defeated Shoreham-Wading River High School, 2-1, on Wednesday, earning a spot in the Suffolk County championship for the second straight year. 

Junior right-hander Grady Valenti got the start for Sayville and pitched four shutout innings while striking out six. Junior RHP Jack Lankowicz pitched the final three innings, racking up seven strikeouts and earning the save for the Golden Flashes.

Pitching for Shoreham-Wading River was the hard-throwing sophomore southpaw Connor Dietz, who struck out nine batters across 6.0 solid innings, but took the loss after allowing two runs, as his team struggled to muster any offense against the Sayville pitching staff. 

Sayville scored their only two runs in the bottom of the first, giving Valenti all the run support he needed. Junior third baseman Joe Strining led the inning off with a single, then came around to score on an RBI single by senior second baseman Brody Tellier, a St. Joseph’s College commit, to score Sayville’s first run of the game. The second run of the inning scored on an RBI sacrifice-fly off the bat of Lankowicz, making it 2-0 Sayville. 

After a shaky first inning, Dietz was lights out for Shoreham-Wading River, keeping Sayville off the board for the remainder of the game. Unfortunately for him, Sayville’s pitching staff also proved untouchable, allowing just one run across a dominant seven innings. 

Shoreham-Wading River pushed across their only run of the game in the top of the fifth, when Villanova commit Daniel Laieta smashed a solo home run over the left field wall to slash Sayville’s lead to just 2-1. Laieta’s homer would be the last run of the game for either side. 

After Shoreham-Wading River got their first run on the board , Lankowicz retired the last six batters he faced to send his team to their second straight county championship.

Following their loss to Kings Park in Tuesday’s semi-final matchup, Sayville will get another shot at the Kingsmen in the Suffolk County Class A championship series, beginning Saturday, May 30, at Middle Country Athletic Complex. Sayville seems ready for the challenge. 

“We knew we had to make a statement today,” Lankowicz said after the win. “We weren’t going to let the loss yesterday define us, and we’re ready for Kings Park.” 

Heading into the County Championship once again, Sayville head coach Joe Esposito feels his team’s playoff experience will be an advantage. 

“Experience is everything in high school baseball,” Esposito explained. “Guys like Joe Strining, Brody Tellier, Aidan Devane, they were younger in last year’s playoffs, but now they’ve been on that field before, so they’ll be comfortable this year.”