Staten Island’s “Cologne Kid” is chasing the sweet smell of success.
The stellar play of Dean Scarangello, 12, has helped keep his scrappy South Shore team’s Little League World Series championship dreams alive — all while his passion for cologne gains off-field notice.
Scarangello’s personal starting lineup of 40-plus scents prompted profiles by ESPN and the Staten Island Advance amid his team’s Little League World Series run.
“I didn’t know people would notice me as the ‘Cologne Boy,’” he told The Post with a small chuckle. “It’s cool because people recognize me.”
But recognizing Scarangello wouldn’t be hard, even without his carefully maintained aroma.
The phenom’s play during Sunday’s game — which included a crucial two-run single — helped save South Shore from elimination.
His father John Scarangello, 46, a retired FDNY lieutenant, watched the game with pride.
A former high school and Division 1 baseball player himself, the elder Scarangello said he didn’t push Dean or his older son Luca into the game. But he was more than happy when they picked up the passion for it.
“They loved it from the second they started playing it,” John Scarangello said.
Both Scarangello boys also share a passion for cologne, which they didn’t get from their father.
“It’s odd to me because I had one cologne my whole life,” John Scarangello said, with a laugh.
The proud father said he realized Dean was a cologne aficionado when he sprayed on one of his son’s colognes, only to draw a puzzled look.
“What are you doing? That’s a winter fragrance,” Dean told him, he said.
“This is a 12-year-old kid telling a 46-year-old man how he’s wearing the wrong fragrance.”
John Scarangello said he’s amused by the notoriety Dean’s cologne connoisseurship has garnered, especially as his son is such a focused baseball player.
When Dean spoke with The Post Monday, a day ahead of his next game in the Little League World Series, he was basking in the experience.
Dean said his dorm in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the series is being played, is shared with players from Cuba and Puerto Rico.
“I feel honored to be here, meeting other teams, talking other languages,” he said.
“When I get back Staten Island, it’s going to be kind of chill.”
