The Wantagh and Clarke baseball teams entered this week's series, the last of the regular season, tied atop Nassau Conference A-I.

Christian Danzilo, Wantagh’s No. 1 starter, understood that he needed to set the tone.

“I knew that I needed to come out and fire a complete game,” the senior lefthander said. “I trust all my guys in the field, and they make the plays for me.”

Danzilo allowed five hits and two earned runs in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one to propel visiting Wantagh to a 5-2 victory over Clarke in the first game of a crucial three-game set on Monday at Salisbury School in Westbury.

“He’s just been the same for two years,” Wantagh coach Keith Sachs said of Danzilo, who improved to 6-0 with his fourth straight complete-game win. “He throws a bunch of strikes. He throws a lot of pitches. He's even-keeled. Nothing bothers him. You wouldn't know if it was in a gym class, the way he's out there. He's a real competitor, though. He's terrific.”

Clarke coach Tom Abruscato said: “[Danzilo] did a great job. I give him credit. I mean, from last year to this year we knew he was much improved, and he showed it. The kid did a great job mixing in and out. He kept us off balance. We hit a couple at ’em balls, and then really the baserunning took us out of some innings.”

Wantagh (16-1, 15-1) needs to beat Clarke (16-2, 14-2) once more to secure the conference crown. The Rams defeated Wantagh in last year’s Nassau Class A championship series.

“That would be a huge win for us because that means we'll get the one-seed, and then we’ll go into playoffs with all the confidence in the world,” Danzilo said.

Cole Spinelli, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run, gave Wantagh a 1-0 first-inning lead with a two-out RBI single that drove in Tommy Wunderlich (3-for-4). Ryan Conigliaro’s RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning made it 2-0.

Clarke starting pitcher Matthew Kurz hit a two-run double in the third inning to tie it at 2. Kurz allowed three earned runs in six innings.

Frankie McNally’s two-out RBI infield single in the top of the fourth inning, a dribbler between home plate and the pitcher’s mound, gave Wantagh a 3-2 lead.

“Don't strike out,” Sachs said. “There's a guy on third, make contact. We play games all the time with two strikes on us to practice that. So he put the ball in play and he earned it. That's just the way it is.”

Michael Avitabile’s sixth-inning RBI double and Spinelli’s seventh-inning run-scoring fielder’s choice — a bases-loaded ground ball — provided Wantagh all the insurance it needed.