Calhoun handles adversity against Division, wins Game 3 of Nassau baseball semifinal
Dan Bondi allowed four hits and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings to send Calhoun to the championship series on Friday, May 27, 2022. Credit: Brad Penner
Calhoun’s offensive prowess has been clear all season as it scored 10 or more runs 13 times. Its strong pitching has been equally dangerous in allowing more than three runs just twice. This week, however, we learned something new about the Colts: they have guts.
Calhoun had essentially cruised to the Nassau A-II division title and through the county baseball playoffs to a semifinal series against Division. Then it lost the first game of the best-of-three series and for the first time dealt with adversity, needing to win a pair of elimination games. The Colts shrugged at the pressure, evened the series on Wednesday and posted a 7-1 victory over the Dragons on Friday at their Joe Corea Field to take the series.
“We showed in this series that we have no quit,” Matt Kalfas said. “The players on this team really believe in each other.”
Top-seeded Calhoun (22-2) advances to the best-of-three Nassau Class A championship series which begins Sunday at Farmingdale State. It will face Clarke, which defeated MacArthur in Game 3 of the other semifinal series.
Senior righty Dan Bondi was in the role as the Colt’s clincher once again. On the heels of a quarterfinal shutout of Plainedge last weekend, he worked 6 1/3 innings of four-hit ball and exited with a seven-run lead. He struck out six and issued three walks (two intentional) in the effort.
“We had momentum after winning the second game and I just felt like if they gave me a lead we would maintain it,” Bondi said. “Our hitters did the job and our momentum just grew.”
Brian Chin reached on a two-out single to left in the first inning and scored when Andrew Schneir doubled to the gap in left-centerfield for a 1-0 lead. Kalfas had a two-run double in a three-run third and the Colts were off to the races.
Bondi was never better than in the fifth when the Dragons (19-7) loaded the bases with none out and brought the tying run to the plate. After a mound conversation with coach Art Canestro, he retired the next three hitters on a pair of strikeouts and first-rate diving catch by charging rightfielder Ben Koch to keep it at 4-0.
“He’s the most even-keeled kid on the team and exactly the right guy in a spot like that,” Canestro said.
After Division’s slugging catcher Joe Yovino went 3-for-3 in the Dragon’s 3-1 win in Game 1, Canestro decided to take him out of the equation. Yovino was walked seven times — five intentionally — in the series. “It was a respect thing because he beat us in the first game,” Canestro said. “We didn’t want to give him that chance again.”
Division also was uncharacteristically sloppy in the field, making five errors. Calhoun scored three runs in the sixth with the help of three Dragons errors for the 7-0 lead. Division also left 12 men on base and had a runner thrown out at the plate on a perfect relay throw from Schneir.
“You don’t win a regular season game making that many errors, never mind a county semifinal against a team like Calhoun,” Division coach Tom Tuttle said.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
