Dylan Babek helps Bellmore JFK earn its first Long Island baseball championship
Bellmore JFK poses after winning the Long Island Class AA baseball final against Hauppauge at Farmingdale College on Saturday, June 6, 2026. Credit: David Meisenholder
In a year that has been full of firsts, the Bellmore JFK baseball team now has another new banner to hang.
The Cougars defeated Hauppauge in the Long Island Class AA championship game, 9-3, on Saturday at Farmingdale State College. Bellmore JFK (22-5) — which broke open a close game with a four-run sixth inning and earned its first Long Island baseball title — will face Section IX champion Cornwall Central in the state Class AA semifinals on Friday at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton.
“I’m thrilled right now,” Ryan Yormack said. “We needed this. It feels great for the team; it feels great for all of us.”
Though junior righthander Derek Yormack — Ryan’s identical twin brother — was fully rested after his 14-strikeout performance in the Nassau Class AA championship game against Garden City last Sunday, Bellmore JFK coach Mike Gattus opted to go with the crafty left arm of Dylan Babek. He battled through five innings-plus, allowing three runs, six hits and two walks with four strikeouts, and got plenty of offensive support.
Bellmore JFK had 13 hits, including seven doubles. No. 9 hitter Zach Adelstein had two huge two-out, two-strike RBI doubles. Alex Demas drove in three runs and Matt Tolipano knocked in two. Demas, Babek (two doubles), Jake Burlock and Ethan Mann also had two hits.
Roman Dixon had two hits and Nick Lombardi tripled for Hauppauge (20-9), which had won seven straight elimination games in the Suffolk playoffs to get to this point.
In the bottom of the first, Ryan Yormack doubled to deep leftfield, Derek Yormack was intentionally walked and a throwing error gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Tolipano lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to make it 2-0.
“We came into this game knowing they had great pitchers and were going to pitch backwards,” Ryan Yormack said. “We had to get on them early and keep the pressure on them, and that’s what we did.”
Hauppauge made it 2-1 in the second when Lombardi tripled to left-center and scored on Kevin Hoeler's sacrifice fly, but Adelstein's first RBI double gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead.
Tucker Brown singled with two outs in the third and scored on Dixon's single to left-center, but Adelstein's second two-out double made it 4-2 in the bottom of the inning.
Babek doubled in the fifth and Demas delivered a two-out single to make it 5-2. Doubles by Hoeler and Brendan Magill in the sixth brought Hauppauge within 5-3, knocking out Babek, and the Eagles got a runner to third with one out but could do no further damage. Ryan Yormack retired all six batters he faced to earn a save.
Derek Yormack had an RBI double and Demas added a two-run single in the sixth as Bellmore JFK pulled away.
“My off-speeds were working really well today,” Babek said. “My changeup was working. They did jump on fastballs well today, so my off-speed was there to help me out. Pitching with a great offense and great defense helped me and led me a lot.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
