St. Dom’s Ackerman saves Lang’s gem to beat St. Anthony’s

Regular-season baseball games do not get much better than this.

St. Dominic, the reigning NSCHSAA regular-season champion, against St. Anthony’s, the defending postseason champ.

A starting pitching matchup featuring two of Long Island’s best righthanders in Iona-bound St. Dominic’s senior Luke Lang and Friars junior Luke Coats, a West Virginia commit.

St. Anthony’s faced a one-run deficit with runners on first and third with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, but Bayhawks sophomore Connor Ackerman shut the door.

Ackerman, who notched a 1  2⁄3-inning save, got Philip Mazzola to fly out to centerfield for the finishing touches of host St. Dominic’s 4-3 NSCHSAA win Wednesday at the Charles Wang Athletic Complex in Muttontown.

“It was a pretty big game,” Ackerman said. “Between the two teams, we’re the number one and two seeds. So this, I felt like, decided who will be on top of the league.”

St. Dominic coach Joe Fusco said: “Pretty much at the top of the league for the last two-plus years has been us and them. And whenever we play them, it’s an absolute battle. So the significance was [that] today was our next game and we needed to win.”

Lang struck out nine, walked five and allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) in 5  1⁄3 innings for St. Dominic (8-1, 6-1). Coats struck out four, walked two and allowed five hits and three earned runs in five innings for St. Anthony’s (5-2, 4-1).

“You can’t win a game without your teammates,” Lang said. “It’s not a one-man show. It takes all nine of us on the field, and it takes everyone in the dugout, especially. That was a huge game. And another thing is, it’s not Lang vs. Coats. It’s St. Dom’s vs. St Anthony’s, and I live by that.”

St. Dominic assistant Dylan Iacovone said: “Luke Lang is the epitome of a competitor. He’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever been around, been lucky to coach. He’s the best pitcher in the league, in my opinion. Best pitcher in New York State.

“The world is his oyster. He’s the best out there.”

Lang exited with a 3-2 lead and a runner on first with one out in the top of the sixth inning. Ackerman induced a 6-4-3 double play on his first pitch to get out of the inning.

Michael Scarry’s RBI single extended St. Dominic’s edge to 4-2 heading into the seventh. Anthony Carlo had an RBI groundout to cut it to 4-3 with two outs. C.J. Alfano ripped a single to put runners on first and third before the game’s final at-bat.

“Just finish the game and close it out,” Ackerman said. “It’s not that big of a moment. I’m not too stressed out, and I’m just going in there, throw strikes and get outs.”