The 12th-seeded New Hyde Park Gladiators varsity baseball team pulled an upset on the fifth-seed Jericho Jayhawks 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Their first round matchup would last eight innings to determine who would move on to face the winner of the North Shore and Glen Cove game.
In the end, the Gladiators would put up four runs in the top of the eighth to stun the Jayhawks and advance to the next round.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Gladiators have won five in a row to close out their regular season. They placed third in the Nassau A-II Conference finishing 11-8 overall and 10-8 in league play.
Although both teams are familiar with one another, this was the first meeting between the Gladiators and the Jayhawks this season.
The game was scoreless up until the eighth inning and both starting pitchers were throwing the ball very well. Scott Kelnhofer led off the inning with a base hit for the Gladiators.
Steve Teixeira would move him over on a sacrifice bunt, which led to the first run of the ball game. Lou Plomitallo would hit a double and drive in Kelnhofer to break a scoreless tie.
Then, Greg Haynes and Jordany Azcona followed up with back to back singles, giving the Gladiators a 4-0 lead and knocking out the opposing pitcher.
They would hold on to nail down the 4-0 victory and move on to face North Shore.
Plomitallo threw a complete game shutout and allowed no walks, four hits and fanned four batters on 87 pitches. He would also drive in the game’s first run.
Azcona drove in two runs as well while Haynes added a run batted in of his own.
The Gladiators will play their next game on the road against fourth seed North Shore on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
This game will be the first meeting between the two squads in their best of three second round series.
“My goals are always play hard and execute” said Gladiators head coach Rich Bizelia. “It should be a good game.”
