The No. 1 through 5 batters in Mattituck’s lineup have been the same for the past three years: Joe Tardif, Marcos Perivolaris, Chris Dwyer, Ian Nish and James Nish.
That group was a part of the Tuckers team that went to the County Championship two years ago. A year later, they won the Long Island championship. Now with four out of five graduating, this is the year they shine; this is when all the work they put in over the years will pay off. The team is mentally and physically prepared to make a run.
Step one was completed on Friday afternoon at the Dowling College sports complex as they won the Long Island Championship with little effort, 5-0 over Oyster Bay.
Mattituck wins Long Island Championship, 5-0Mattituck made it look easy today as they took down Oyster Bay in the Long Island championship, 5-0. Tomorrow, they head to Mamaroneck to play in the Southern Regional. Story and photos: http://goo.gl/tLNOAt
Posted by Southoldlocal.com on Friday, June 5, 2015
Marcos Perivolaris threw a complete game two-hitter and seemed unfazed on the mound from start to finish.
“I mixed up my off speed with my fastball really well today,” Perivolaris said. “Mike (Onufrak) called an amazing game and I trust him with all of that. Without him who knows what will happen.”
After a week off following their Suffolk County championship, all the waiting came to fruition as everything clicked for the Tuckers.
“We wanted to play best game we could,” Perivolaris “We were pumped up because we had a long wait. That week dragged out a lot.”
Mattituck (24-1) got on the board right away in the first inning. Perivolaris singled and Chris Dwyer followed up with walk before the Nish-Nish tandem plated both runners. With both runners going on the pitch, Ian Nish ripped a RBI single through the left side as the shortstop went over to cover the bag. James hit a single through the right side to plate Dwyer and the Tuckers never looked back.
“We’ve been on a mission this year and this is the next step in our mission,” Tuckers head coach Steve DeCaro said. “We took care of business right away.”
Tardif plated a run in the bottom of the second inning and then did some stolen base voodoo on the opponents and scored the fourth run himself as the Baymen catcher threw the ball into the outfield.
With the victory, the Tuckers will travel to Mamaroneck High School tomorrow to face off against the Section I champion. They’ll play at 2pm.
Tardif will get the ball in the Southeast regional and he can’t wait to get going.
“I’m excited,” Tardif said. “I’m ready to go.”
Asked what he knows about Section I, DeCaro responded: “We have a pretty good idea what they’re all about. We know how good they are. We saw them last week. Section I always comes to play, hopefully we can get past them this year.”
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Courtney Blasl.
