Cameron Sheedy rips one deep for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place hits a line drive. Photo by Bill Landon
Kyle Stella gets a hit for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Joe Leo scores for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Owen Crowley takes a pitch for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Evan DeGroot shows bunt for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place outfielder Evan Fallon makes the catch for the Panthers. Photo by Bill Landon
Daniel Laieta delivers for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Shortstop Kyle Stella tags the runner out at 2nd for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place rips a line drive in a road game against Shoreham-Wading River. Photo by Bill Landon
Miller Place 2nd baseman Josh MacDonald throws the runner out at 1st in a road game against Shoreham-Wading River. Photo by Bill Landon
First baseman Joe Leo holds the runner on for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
After Shoreham-Wading River boy’s baseball team’s starting pitcher Daniel Laieta drove in Conor Dietz in the opening inning on April 25, Dietz’ bat barked in the bottom of the second inning driving in two runs to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead over visiting Miller Place. Joe Leo plated Kris Koerner in the bottom of the fourth to make it a four-run game.
Miller Place threatened in the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and two outs ripped the ball to right field where Connor DeMasi robbed the Panthers of a grand slam home run with a diving catch to end the inning.
Shoreham-Wading River’s Colton Sisler crossed home plate in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of Aiden Reilly’s bat to put the Wildcats out front 5-0.
Miller Place managed two runs in the top off the sixth to avert the shut-out falling to the Wildcats 5-2.
Laieta had three hits and two RBIs for the Wildcats, pitching six-plus innings with zero earned runs in the win.
On April 5, Councilwoman Jane Bonner attended the North Shore Little League (NSLL) Opening Day ceremonies. The NSLL, which was established in 1963, offers boys and girls, ages six through sixteen, the opportunity to play organized baseball and softball with their peers at fields on Route 25A in Rocky Point.
Also at the Opening Day ceremony was 2nd District State Assemblywoman Jodie Giglio and Quentin Palifka representing Suffolk County Legislator Chad Lennon.
Councilwoman Bonner said “The North Shore Little League is great for kids to have fun and enjoy spending hours playing America’s pastime. I always know that summer is just around the corner when I hear the words ‘play ball!’ on opening day.”
For more information about the North Shore Little League, to volunteer or join their e-mail list, go to www.nsllrp.org or call 631-744-3355.
Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University Athletics
Erik Paulsen jumpstarted the Seawolves with a two-run homer in the first inning, but Campbell responded with six unanswered runs and ultimately defeated Stony Brook 16-6 on April 13 at Joe Nathan Field in the series finale.
Stony Brook right-hander John Rizzo worked around a runner in the top of the first, keeping the Camels off the board. In the bottom half, Nick Zampieron reached base and Erik Paulsen followed with a two-run blast to right, giving the Seawolves an early 2-0 lead.Campbell quickly answered in the second inning, hitting a pair of home runs and scoring four runs to take a 4-2 lead. Brett Davino singled with one out in the home half of the inning, but Stony Brook was held scoreless.
The Camels kept their momentum in the third, tacking on two more runs via another home run to extend their lead to 6-2. The Seawolves were retired in order to end the frame.
With two runners on in the top of the fourth, Matthew Canizares entered the game for Stony Brook and struck out the first two batters he faced. However, the next hitter launched a three-run homer to stretch Campbell’s lead to 9-2.
Stony Brook punched back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Johnny Pilla led off with a single to center and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Miceli. Zampieron brought home Luke Szepekwith a two-out single through the left side to cut the deficit to 9-4.
Campbell responded in the fifth, scoring four runs on three hits, including two more home runs, to push the lead to 13-4.
The Seawolves kept battling in the bottom half of the inning. Nico Azpilcueta extended his on-base streak by leading off the frame with a solo home run — his 12th of the season. Chris Carson added an RBI single, trimming the margin to 13-6.
Campbell tacked on another run in the sixth and added two more in the seventh to close out the scoring and take the series finale, 16-6.
Up next, the team hit the road this weekend for a three-game CAA series at Hofstra. Game one is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, April 18 and will stream live on FloCollege.
The cover of the first issue of The Village Times in 1976 by Pat Windrow
By Leah S. Dunaief
Leah Dunaief, Publisher
Two happy milestones have marked this week. My oldest grandson turned 30, which we celebrated in style, and The Village Times, the flagship of Times Beacon Record News Media, was started exactly 49 years ago.
First the details of the birthday bash.
It happened Sunday afternoon at the ballpark, Citi Field, the home of the Mets, or what we Old Timers used to call Shea Stadium. Now if you knew my grandson at all, you would know he is a fierce and utterly loyal fan of the Mets since his earliest years. You could gather from that bit of information, that he is mighty stubborn about his loyalties. After all, there have been many incentives to switch support to other, more winning teams, right? And who could blame him? But that is not his style. His loyalty is boundless. And of course, the Mets have gradually rewarded him for his patience.
Thus, it was no surprise that he wanted to share his special day with the Mets, and in his honor, they won the game. But I get ahead of myself.
It’s worth relating how beautiful Citi Field is, especially so for me, a die hard Yankee fan who spent many afternoons during my teens in concrete-riven Yankee Stadium.
Now admittedly, we did have a luxurious situation. The cost of a box at the park was shared. We entered from a designated parking lot, after waiting on a short line, and were guidedpast giant pictures of Met greats like Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver, to a manned elevator that took us swiftly to the fourth floor.
We stepped out into a spacious hallway of patterned marble floors, paneled walls, high ceilings with recessed lighting and multiple wooden doors that led to individual suites. Overstuffed armchairs lined the walls. And you should see the bathrooms.
Staff greeted us all along the way and led us to our room, where more overstuffed seating, fruit and salad awaited us. At the far end was a sliding glass door leading out to cushioned balcony seats that accommodated most of the 18 of us as we watched the game.
Happily both suite and balcony had heaters, although the weather, while chilly, behaved nicely. The early morning rain had stopped. More ballpark food arrived throughout the afternoon, but it was hard to tear ourselves away from the balcony as the Mets won what turned out to be a pitchers’ duel, 2-1. I can hardly wait to see how we will celebrate his 40th.
As for our newspaper anniversary this past Tuesday, it came and went quietly as we enter our 50th year. We were busy putting out this week’s papers. But we will certainly whoop it up at various community events throughout the year until we reach half a century.
It’s easy to fall back on the well-used cliche, “time flies,” but it is astonishing to me and to those who were involved in the start-up, like our general manager, that we have reached almost five decades of publishing hometown news. So much has happened, so much has changed, but not the mission of the newspaper.
Our goals have always been steadfast. We strive each week to bring vetted news, information and even some fun to our readers, originally with newsprint, and now with the additional platforms of the 24/7 website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and the weekly podcast, The Pressroom Afterhour,which is also on Spotify.
We promise our staffers that, if and when they leave, it will be with more skills than when they arrived because we invest in our people. And the third and last part of our mission is to support and give back to our readers and advertisers in whatever ways we can, starting with working to create a sense of community.
Frankly, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have survived almost 50 years, as we see hometown papers fall around us. Last week, while I was attending the New York Press Association Convention in Saratoga Springs, two more papers closed down, leaving their neighborhoods unprotected.
Ben Brown and his wife Maggie. Photo courtesy of Ben and Maggie Brown.
By Daniel Dunaief
Baseball has been Setauket product Ben Brown’s ticket to ride, or, perhaps, more appropriately, ticket to fly.
The 25-year old Ward Melville High School graduate, whose debut season in Major League Baseball was cut short last year by a neck injury, joined the Chicago Cubs this year for spring training.
Even days before the Chicago Cubs prepared to make a trip across the world to Japan, Brown wasn’t sure if he and his wife Maggie would make the longest flight of his life.
“He only knew a couple of days before that he was going,” said Ben’s mother Jo-Anne Wilson. “Then, they’re scrambling to get people to stay at home and watch their dogs.”
While Brown’s mother was thrilled that her son could enjoy an international trip on a world baseball stage, she had some parental anxiety.
“The night I knew he’d be landing at 3 am, I was still up,” Wilson said. She was greatly relieved when her son texted her.
“I could breathe again,” she laughed. Even though Ben is her third child, she can’t outgrow her parental concern for the well-being of her children.
“I’m sure he was surprised when I texted back within half a second,” said Wilson, who promptly fell asleep after the brief exchange.
Brown’s father Jody Brown was more concerned about jet leg, as Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and 16 hours ahead of the time in Mesa, Arizona, where the Cubs play their spring training games.
Memorable trip to the Embassy
Ben Brown meeting up with another WMHS graduate Anthony Kay, who is also a pitcher. Kay is playing for the Yokohama DeNa BayStars. Photo courtesy of Maggie Brown
Brown’s parents connected with Ben a few times by FaceTime while their son and his conspicuous six foot, six inch frame were traveling around Japan.
The Japanese public was “friendly and so welcoming,” said Wilson. “The kids were very respectful when they were approaching the players for autographs.”
That presented a contrast to some young fans in the United States, who can be aggressive when seeking autographs or pictures with baseball players.
A trip to the American Embassy, where the Cubs attended a party, was a highlight of the journey.
“He said, ‘Mom, you’ve never seen anything like it in your life,’” Wilson said, recalling her son’s delight at the colorful and well-presented offerings. “He never left a table” filled with every type of sushi imaginable.
Brown was impressed with the immaculate condition of the streets.
Brown’s wife Maggie learned about the expectations for garbage the hard way. She had eaten a pastry and was carrying a coffee cup. When she went to throw her garbage in a can in a fish market, she was reprimanded for trying to discard items that didn’t come from the market. People expect to put items in their own trash cans.
The Browns visited Anthony Kay, who is pitching for the Yokohama DeNa Baystars and is another Ward Melville baseball star, while they were in Tokyo.
A well-watched opening game
The first game of the season was a huge draw in Japan, with an estimated 25 million people watching the Cubs and the defending World Series Champion Dodgers take the field at the Tokyo Dome.
Ben Brown interacting with autograph seekers. Photo courtesy of Maggie Brown
Over 42,000 people flocked to the stadium, paying anywhere between $2,000 and $19,000 a seat, according to Fox News 11 Los Angeles. Three players from the defending World Series champions are Japanese, including hitting superstar Shohei Ohtani, and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. The Japanese players from the Cubs are pitcher Shota Imanaga, who started game one, and outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Back in Setauket, Brown’s parents got up to watch the start of the game at 6:10 am, sitting down with a cup of coffee.
Imanaga threw four hitless and scoreless innings, allowing four walks and striking out two.
The right handed throwing Brown came on to pitch in the fifth inning.
After striking out Miguel Rojas, Brown walked Andy Pages, bringing up Ohtani. The Dodgers left-handed hitting star laced the team’s first hit of the season, a single to right fight.
By the end of the inning, Brown had given up three runs, two of which were earned, on three hits.
Brown pitched an impressive fifth and sixth inning, recording four additional strike outs, including of Ohtani.
Brown’s brother James Neppell, who is 15 years older than Ben and who helped ignite his passion for the sport, was pleased with his brother’s outing and with his approach to Ohtani during the superstar’s second at bat.
“He struck him out on three pitches” Neppell said proudly. “That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
Brown’s father was pleased with his son’s 14 swings and misses, “which is more than any pitcher on the Cubs or the Dodgers” that day as well as the five strike outs.
The Dodgers won the first game 4-1, as Brown took the loss.
The Browns shared the excitement of the trip with their son from a distance, while they also mirrored some of his activities on Long Island.
“We had sushi while he was gone,” Jody Brown said.
Next steps
Just before a spring training outing against the Atlanta Braves earlier this week, Ben found out he had been named the club’s fifth starting pitcher.
Brown and his wife Maggie. Photo courtesy of Ben and Maggie Brown
“It’s a real honor,” Brown said during an interview with an MLB broadcast after his 75-pitch outing in which he allowed two earned runs in four and a third innings against the Braves. “To say that you’re a part [of the team] from day one is pretty incredible.”
Brown suggested that the engagement of the fans, which he likened to European soccer style chants, was a “real blast.”
Jody Brown recalls how travel baseball, which now includes a trip across the world, started when his son was young.
“I remember his first [baseball] trip when he was eight years old to Maryland,” said Brown. “The local coach called and said, ‘We need him to come.’ I thought, ‘That’s crazy.’ That was the start.”
At around that same time years ago, Neppell told his friends he thought his brother might make it to the major leagues. His friends, who thought he was crazy at the time, are impressed that the 33rd round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2017 draft has come this far.
The Browns appreciate the thrilling ride they have taken with their son.
“We’re on the same journey,” said Wilson. “We’re enjoying every minute of it, even the stress.”
With temperatures soaring, the large gathering of friends and family used programs to fan themselves.
Sweat dripped down my back as I waited in a wooden chair amid bright sunshine to witness and celebrate my brother’s graduation from Colgate University. Thoughts of my brother mixed with a need to find shade and an ice cold drink.
I had attended several graduations before this one, including my older brother’s and my own from college. I recall my Ward Melville High School graduation being incredibly warm as well, but this one seemed longer and more protracted, perhaps because we had to drive several hours to attend.
I pondered all the phone calls to the 315 area code with my younger brother, who complained about the snow, the ice and the bitter cold temperatures, which was an enormous contrast to the stifling heat of that day.
The commencement speaker, Fay Vincent, was the commissioner of baseball at the time. His tenure started when his predecessor Bart Giamatti died of a heart attack at 51, eight days after banning Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling on the game.
I thought about Vincent this week when I learned he had died at the age of 86 from cancer. I remember a surprising number of thoughts and ideas he shared during that momentous and proud day in our family’s life.
Fortunately, the sound system on that field was clear enough that I could hear almost every word he said.
He started off by saying that there’s no such thing as a good, long commencement speech. Similarly, there’s no such thing as a bad, short commencement speech.
The overheated audience laughed at both well-delivered lines, relieved that their children’s names would be called fairly soon.
He had three pieces of advice for these graduates. He recommended that they do something good. While that course of action depended on each person’s definition of “good,” he urged people to use their time effectively and to contribute something to society.
He then suggested that people do something well. Merely taking a job, moving on to graduate school, or doing some kind of internship wasn’t enough: graduates needed to commit to completing any task well, whatever that might be.
And, finally, he urged them to do something. That line also elicited considerable laughter from the appreciative crowd, who, by now, was eating out of his hand and wasn’t so sure they wanted this speech to end too rapidly.
He urged graduates not to return home and spend too much time pondering their future. They needed to go out and experience life. And, of course, once they took whatever next steps, they should remember to engage in good work while committing to doing it well.
Recognizing that the commissioner of baseball couldn’t get off the dais without sharing a baseball story, he also offered one about a rookie umpire.
The Houston Astros were playing the Yankees at the Astrodome in front of more than 50,000 adoring fans during their home opener.
Nolan Ryan, the ace of the team and one of the best pitchers in baseball who still holds the record with seven no hitters, was on the mound.
Mickey Rivers, the speedy Yankees center fielder, was stepping up to the plate. The umpire signaled for Ryan, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1999 as a Texas Ranger, to throw the first pitch.
The ball exploded into the catcher’s mitt. The fans waited as the seconds ticked by. The players looked in for the call. The umpire signaled weakly, “strike?” and extended his arm. The crowd cheered wildly as the catcher tossed the ball back to Ryan, who had started out his 27-year career as a member of the New York Mets.
Rivers took a step out of the box and smiled at the umpire. “Hey, it’s okay, blue,” Rivers said. “I didn’t see it either.”
Vincent told the story and offered his advice with such gusto and passion that I can still recall the speech and its effect on people all these years later.
Is it possible that Ryan was on another team during that speech and that another batter shared such relatable words to the umpire? Sure. But, I can remember the message, the charm and the encouragement (and, of course, the searing heat) as if I were sitting in that field yesterday, celebrating my brother’s graduation and appreciating Vincent’s word’s of wisdom.
My wife and I have visited with another couple, whom I’ll call Ben and Jill, several times through the years. We’ve attended sporting events and chatted at meals in different cities.
They are both pleasant and agreeable and seem pleased to reconnect with us each time.
Recently, we had an unhurried dinner where the stories went from the routine to the sublime.
Jill is worried about her second son, who is working incredibly long hours and doesn’t seem to have much, or any, work-life balance.
Her husband Ben, who is in a similar line of work to their son, worked incredibly long hours in the first years of their marriage, too.
Indeed, back in his day, Ben would work all day, come home to take a shower while a car service waited outside and then would return to work, without so much as a meal or a rest.
“I wasn’t as worried about Ben,” she said, as she spent her waking hours taking care of three children who required her considerable attention.
Like many other parents of children in the 30-ish range, Jill is eagerly waiting for her oldest son, who has been in a relationship for years, has purchased a house with his girlfriend and shares custody of a dog, to take those next steps that would not only net her a daughter-in-law but would also bring her grandchildren.
“Honestly,” she shrugged, “I thought I’d be a grandparent by now.”
Speaking of grandparents and grandchildren, Jill shared that her grandfather died last year at the age of 105.
Doing quick math, I realized that he was born the year before the Spanish Influenza of 1919 and died after the end of Covid, which means that he was one of probably a select few who lived through two pandemics in different centuries.
He had served in World War II in Washington state as a code breaker and was a widower for the last few decades of his life.
When her grandfather was 90, he needed heart surgery. Doctors wouldn’t normally perform such a procedure on a 90-year old, but they said he was much more like a typical, healthy 80 year-old.
They put a device in his heart that was supposed to last 10 years. When her grandfather reached 101, the device faltered and he had sepsis. This, the family thought, could be the end of his long life. He rebounded, however, and lived another four years, enduring vision limited in part by reduced visits to the ophthalmologist during Covid.
The conversation turned to baseball, as Ben and Jill are avid Mets fans.
I told them my memories from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, when I was living in the Boston area and was surrounded by giddy Red Sox fans on the verge of their first championship since 1918.
Ben’s eyes lit up and he told us that he and Jill attended Game 7 of that series.
No, they hadn’t purchased tickets. They knew two people who had worked at Shea Stadium as vendors, but hadn’t worked in a while. They borrowed their vendor badges, which didn’t have their names or pictures on them, arrived at Shea two hours before the game started, and casually walked through the gate.
When they sat down in left field seats, a security guard asked them what they were doing there and they said they worked at the ice cream vendor in left field. The security guard informed them that there were no ice cream vendors in that area. They considered leaving, but instead hid in a stair well until the crowds came in.
They found an usher who allowed them to sit on the concrete steps — empty seats were unlikely in a winner-take-all game — and watched the Mets come back to clinch the title.
Whenever anyone asks Ben to share something people don’t know about him, he relates the story of their bold and successful effort to watch live the last Mets team to win a World Series.
Evan Kay jumps for joy after last pitch of the Long Island championship game against Farmingdale on June 1. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Matt Shovelson is pumped after scoring in the fifth inning against Farmingdale. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Commack varsity baseball wins their second consecutive Long Island championship. Photo by Steven Zaitz
By Steven Zaitz
Start the buses!
The Commack Cougars captured their second straight Class AAA Long Island championship on Saturday, getting another brilliant pitching performance from senior right-hander Evan Kay.
Kay, who will pitch for Stony Brook next spring, allowed no earned runs, three hits, no walks, and struck out 11 against Nassau champion Farmingdale to earn a 2-1 victory. This win sends Commack back to Binghamton, where they lost in the final round last year, to play in the New York State championship tournament this weekend.
It was the second time this week Kay was at the bottom of a celebratory pile of teammates at the Middle Country Athletic Complex in Selden, as he pitched a similarly spectacular game on May 26 against Sachem North to bag a fourth consecutive Suffolk County crown for the Commack varsity baseball program.
“Being on the bottom of that pile is rough, I gotta admit, but there is no place I’d rather be,” Kay said after handcuffing the mighty Dalers, who had averaged six runs a game in their Section VIII playoff march.
But it was Kay who had the recipe to serve up a giant bowl of goose egg soup to Farmingdale, mixing mostly off-speed and breaking pitches in the first few frames and then blowing fastballs by them in the middle and later innings. Kay struck out the side on only 12 pitches in the first inning and although it got a little dicey later on in the game, it was a harbinger of how the night would unfold for him and the Cougars.
Kay worked quickly, threw strikes, and had Daler hitters muttering under their breath as they walked back to the dugout. Kay faced only 24 batters in seven innings – only three over the minimum.
“It might have been the best I’ve ever thrown in a high school game,” said Kay. “I live for big moments like this.”
Commack head coach Matthew Salmon has now presided over two straight Long Island Championships. He has watched Kay evolve from a kid who just a few years ago couldn’t crack 60 mph on a radar gun into the equivalent of the Long Island Cy Young.
“The bigger the situation is, Evan gets a little bit stronger and a little bit tougher and that’s just the way he is built,” Salmon said. “He’s pitched in big spots his whole career and has been successful in every one of those spots, and I think a case can be made for Evan as being one of the best pitchers in the history of Long Island High School baseball.”
A bold statement, and that list might include major leaguers like Frank Viola, Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, and Commack alum Pete Harnisch – all of whom pitched, or are still pitching, in the major leagues. But the numbers back Salmon’s case.
Kay holds the Long Island record for consecutive scoreless innings with 60. Twenty-eight of those innings were pitched in the 2023 postseason against stiff competition such as Pat-Med and Massapequa. He has won two Suffolk County championship-clinching games, two Long Island championship-clinching games, and he beat Shenendehowa in the New York State semifinals last year.
All five of these wins were complete games and three of them were shutouts.
His lifetime record is 16-2, has 147 strikeouts and his WHIP, walks and hits per inning, is a microscopic 0.59.
“His résumé speaks for itself,” Salmon said.
Another bullet point on Kay’s résumé is his ability to snuff out rallies before they become multi-run innings.
In last week’s win against Sachem North, he got a huge strikeout with the tying run on third with one out in the seventh inning and stranded the potential tying and winning runs on base to win Suffolk County. Against the Dalers, he pinned a two-out base runner at second with a strikeout in the fifth to maintain a 1-0 lead. After Commack added a run in the fifth for a 2-0 lead, Kay worked around an error in the sixth and retired the heart of Farmingdale’s lineup, surrendering only an unearned run on a foul ball sacrifice fly by starting pitcher Jordan Welsh. Commack kept its lead.
The Cougars scored in the first inning on a two-out RBI single by right fielder Dean Vincent and added another in the fifth when pinch hitter Matt Shovelson singled and came around to score on catcher Robbie Mascia’s single to center.
It was in Kay’s capable hands entering the final frame. As is his wont, Kay looked out to centerfield and took a deep breath before stepping on the rubber to begin the inning. In this case, he took two deep breaths.
“Before that last inning I took an extra second to think about how big the moment was and I really wanted to lock in to get those last three outs,” Kay said.
In fine style, Kay struck out the side in order in the seventh on only 11 pitches. Upon strike three to his final victim, Farmingdale left fielder Patrick Sebber, Kay thrust both of his arms into the air, did a half-pirouette on the mound, and threw his glove into the dusty, orange Selden sky before being snowed under by his raucous teammates. The trophy party in left field with friends and family lasted well past dark.
Now the Cougars return to Mirabito Stadium to face Fairport, a suburb of Rochester, on Saturday in the New York State semifinal game. The pitching rotation has not been set and it will be either Kay or Ryan Krzemienski to pitch that game. If the Cougars win, they will face the winner of Shenendehowa [Section II] and reigning state champs Ketchum [Section I], who beat Commack 2-1 last year in the finals despite three Cougar pitchers other than Kay, who pitched the previous game, combining for a no-hitter.
With all the gaudy stats, accomplishments, and accolades that Kay has accumulated in his Commack career, he still has a gaping space for one more.
“I want to win the New York State championship. Then I’m good.”
Aidan Reilly slides safely into 3rd base just ahead of the throw for a triple. Photo by Bill Landon
Shortstop Christian Cox with a pickoff attempt against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
3rd baseman Aidan Reilly throws the runner out at first for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Nicholas Vignola delivers in a playoff game against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
Joseph Leo holds the runner on at 1st in a playoff game against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
Gordon Votruba delivers for the Wildcats in a playoff game against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
Joseph Leo hits a rope for the Wildcats in a playoff game against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
Shortstop Christian Cox fires the ball to 1st for Shoreham-Wading River. Photo by Bill Landon
2nd baseman Daniel Laieta drives the ball deep for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Andrew Costello hits a rope for the Wildcats in a playoff game against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
2nd baseman Daniel Laieta throws to first for the Wildcats. Photo by Bill Landon
Shortstop Christian Cox with a pickoff attempt against Sayville. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Having survived a must-win game the day before, Shoreham-Wading River (No. 3) lived to face Sayville (No. 6) at home Sunday, May 19, in a Suffolk Class A playoff match.
Sayville banked two runs in the opening inning, but the Wildcats answered when Kyle Stella drove in Christian Cox to get on the scoreboard. Shoreham-Wading River sophomore Daniel Laieta homered in the bottom of the second driving in to put his team ahead 3-2, a lead that would be short-lived.
Sayville leveled the game in the top of the 3rd but the Wildcats fell behind in the top of the 5th when Sayville drove in two more runs to make it 5-3. Sayville extended the lead to five in the top of the 6th at 8-3.
Shoreham-Wading River with three outs left, with their season on the brink, rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning plating three runners but Sayville ended the Wildcats season winning the game 8-6.
The Wildcats concluded their 2024 campaign with an impressive 17-5 record.
With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, Newfield Wolverine starting pitcher Matthew Hesselbirg fired a no-hitter on Friday, May 3 against Northport to keep his team alive in the postseason hunt.
The senior righthander struck out seven Tiger batters and walked two over seven innings and despite not allowing a hit, fought through several troublesome innings when Northport put multiple men on base.
The Wolverines scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to secure the 2-0 win. Newfield right-fielder Brandon Seddio drew a one-out walk in the fourth and then stole second. Tiger pitchers Tyler Roethel and Vincent Staub combined to walk three batters in a row to force in Seddio and give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. Seddio would knock in center fielder Kevin Brown in the fifth inning with a single to make it 2-0.
Meanwhile, Hesselbirg got harder to hit as the game wore on.The Tigers had a man on second and third in the second inning but Roethel flew out to Brown to end the frame. Tiger catcher Reid Johansen reached on an error in the fourth and advanced to third on a ground out and a wild pitch. But he got no further. Hesselbirg struck out the side in order in the fifth and faced the minimum in the sixth.
He hit Tiger third-baseman Cody Hammer with one out in the seventh and allowed a walk to right-fielder Sean Buchanan to put the tying runs on base.
But Tiger pinch hitter Anthony Sylvanus hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Cayden Davis, who started a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and give Hesselbirg his no-no.
Roethel pitched 3 2/3 innings and was charged with the run in the fourth. He struck out four. Side-armer Vincent Staub pitched the final 2 1/3 for Northport.
Newfield (7-9) needs to sweep Centereach in a three-game set this week to make the playoffs.Centereach is the first-place team in Suffolk Conference III. Northport (10-8) has clinched a playoff spot, despite the loss, and will play Sachem East to close the season.
