Giovanni Longo’s junior year on the Sandburg varsity baseball team started off about as well as he’d hoped.
The Roosevelt recruit was starting every game for the Eagles and playing second base.
But as the year went on, Longo saw that role shrink.
“It was extremely tough,” Longo said. “It was tough to go from every day playing to watching and not being on the field. I wanted to help the team whatever way possible. Pinch-hitting was doing what I could to help.”
A year later, Longo is back where he wanted to be as an everyday starter in the outfield and middle-of-the-order hitter.
Lifting host Sandburg to an exciting 4-3 victory on April 1 over Marist, Longo ripped a walk-off RBI double to deep right to knock in the winning run.
“It’s definitely a phenomenal feeling,” Longo said. “It’s a great feeling to knock off a private school in the way we did.”
Senior Lucas Matykiewicz scored on Longo’s double. Senior Lucas Rosas and junior Solomon Mitchell each scored a run for the Eagles.
Senior Nick Seaman earned the win in relief. He threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing a hit and a walk and four strikeouts.
Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Sandburg tied things up when Mitchell scored on a Marist error. After Seaman set down the RedHawks in order in the top of the seventh, Longo took care of the rest.
With two runners on and two outs, he turned on a pitch and deposited it in right over the fielder’s head for the winner.
“A tie game like that, the mindset is, ‘You want to be up to bat!’” Longo said. “I wanted to be up there. That was my mindset. It’s jumping on the best pitch possible and putting a charge into it. I want to do something, get a hit and find the barrel.”
Longo is also a defender on the soccer team.
He’s been taking honors and AP classes throughout high school and has a 4.5 grade-point average. He also volunteers as a tutor in Sandburg’s Literary Lab.
Coach George Fear loves what Longo brings to the team and campus.
“Gio is a kid all over school. He’s so well-liked,” Fear said. “Roosevelt doesn’t even know what kind of kid he is. He’ll be so good for them. For him to come up and get that last hit, I’m so proud of him.”
Pitching in relief, Seaman slowed Marist while the Eagles clawed back into the game. He started at third base.
“It was pretty much, ‘Let (Marist) hit it.’ We have a good defense,” Seaman said. “I wanted to come in and be the guy and keep the team in it. I felt like I did that enough where we could win the game.”
Seaman said the Eagles — who came into this week at 7-0 — have found a groove, one he’s hoping they can stay in all spring.
“We’re a really tight group,” Seaman said. “It’s not just as teammates. We’re friends outside the sport. That brings us together and can take us very far.”
Senior Ryan Lawlor led Marist with two singles, a RBI and a run.