Sports
Garden City Wiped Out By Wantagh
Trojans overmatched by Warriors in most lopsided defeat of season.
The further Garden City navigates into the deep end of the Conference A-1 swimming pool, the more difficult the Trojans are finding it to stay above water.
Wantagh played buzzsaw to Garden City's plywood on Wednesday, rampaging through the Trojans pitching staff in a 19-5 win.
It was one of the worst losses head coach Rich Smith could remember in his 38-year career with Garden City, and truth be told, it could have been worse had Wantagh coach Keith Sachs not pulled many of his starters from the game.
"You get days like this," said Smith. "This is a very mature senior team, they're leading the conference, and they just beat up on our pitching real good."
Wantagh—which improved to 12-3 (11-3) with the win—outscored Garden City 27-5 in the two games the teams played over the last week.
The loss dropped Garden City to 8-7 overall, and 7-7 in the conference. The Trojans finish their four-game week with another difficult challenge today at 11-3 (10-3) Clarke.
With the full schedule and regular No. 3 starter Sam Walsh sidelined with a sore arm, Garden City was in a jam before the first pitch. Regular third baseman Frank Cordio took the ball in his first start of the season, but it would be a brief one.
Matt Dybus and Kyle Abury set the tone for Wantagh with back-to-back homers in the first, part of a four-run inning that put Cordio on the ropes.
Cordio was done three batters into the second inning and next was Mike Lapinski, who fared no better against a relentless Warriors lineup. Wantagh piled on 10 more runs in the next two innings to balloon the lead to 14-0.
It was at that point that Sachs removed the middle of his potent and physically-imposing lineup.
"They just came out hitting and we couldn't keep up," said shortstop James Cauchi. "Coach always says with games like this to just forget about it and move on. [Today] will be a better day."
Wantagh's explosive start seemed to sap the life out of the Garden City bats, as Warriors starter Derek Novotny eased through five innings for the win.
Cauchi's RBI double put Garden City on the board in the fifth, and Scott Conetta followed with a two-run homer in the sixth, his second in as many days.
Smith has been on both sides of these types of games, and he said afterward a little bit of selective amnesia can go a long way.
"You forget games like this," he said. "We'll respond [today] ... We'll come to play."
