Massapequa, St. Dominic and LI Lutheran baseball teams deliver great moments in winning state titles

MASSAPEQUA

The Massapequa baseball team is overwhelming to its opponents, but not because of its talent. It is its domination of the details that ultimately makes it unbeatable.

The team’s control over the game’s finer points, especially in the must-have moments, is why it won its third state title in program history and first since 2018. 

Case and point from the state Class AAA championship, a 7-1, over Liverpool in Binghamton on June 13: top of the third inning, runners on first and second, two outs and No. 3 hitter Michael Murphy up to bat for Liverpool. Massapequa is leading 2-0 with righthander Jack Scannapieco 20 pitches deep into the inning.

Murphy drives one deep into the right-centerfield gap. If it falls, it's a tie game, the lead run is on third base and the cleanup hitter is at the plate. Things are not looking good for Scannapieco.

Luckily for him, nobody delivers the necessities quite like Massapequa does.

Centerfielder Caiden Erker, who was shaded toward left-centerfield before the pitch, raced all the way to a step before the warning track in right-center, where he made a full-extension reaching catch on the run to end the inning.

Big difference from the alternative outcome. In a game won by six runs, that play gets forgotten, but it immeasurably changed everything.

“Every game, we look at the wind,” Erker said. “Coach [Tom] Sheedy gives us a scouting report where these guys are going to hit the ball, so we position ourselves accordingly. I was just doing what I could to help my team.”

In the sixth inning, more of the same happened. Lefthander Sal Apap was in a two-on, no-out jam and skipped one to catcher Anthony DiNello. The ball bounced into foul territory on the third-base side. A runner darted toward home, but DiNello recovered in time and flipped perfectly to home plate, where Apap was covering to apply the tag.

The next batter popped one up into shallow rightfield, but Chris Sultana made a diving catch. Though the runner tagged up and scored, the catch turned a potential rally-starter into a bases-empty, two-out situation in a 6-1 game.

“There’s not a lot of things that can happen in a game that Massapequa baseball hasn’t practiced,” DiNello said. “Everything that happens in a game, we’re ready and prepared to execute a play for. Forever and always.”

ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

County final: def. Port Washington, 7-4, 5-3

L.I. final: def. Connetquot, 11-6

State semifinal: def. Monroe-Woodbury, 5-3

State final: def. Liverpool, 7-1

ST. DOMINIC

The long road toward the state CHSAA baseball championship required getting over some bumps. But in the end, St. Dominic cleared them all.

The Bayhawks took a 9-1 win over Nichols June 13 at St. John’s University to claim the program’s first state title, capping a 23-14 journey.

“I’m so proud of the kids,” coach Joe Fusco said. “They worked so hard to get to this point. We had a lot of adversity this year that we’ve never really dealt with. We lost some games. We had some injuries. For them to persevere through all of that, I know that they’ll all be successful in life.”

The Bayhawks made the state tournament by winning their first NSCHSAA tournament championship since 2009.

It wasn’t easy. They had to beat St. Anthony’s in the elimination bracket final after falling in the semis to Kellenberg.

Then they dropped Game 1 to those Firebirds in the league’s best-of-three championship series. But they were still confident.

Ray Kim fired a five-hit shutout in Game 2, and Connor Ackerman and Tyler Camastro-Szwejkowski teamed on the mound for a 4-1 win in the clincher.

“This team finds a way to just always seemingly come together when the moments are the toughest,” assistant coach Dylan Iacovone said. “. . . To do what they did this year with their backs against the wall through elimination games, through potentially fighting out of a play-in game scenario that could’ve been on the table the last game of the regular season, they found a way.”

Ackerman fired a three-hit shutout and Mike Scarry delivered a pair of RBI singles in a state semifinal win over Iona Prep. Then Camastro-Szwejkowski tossed a two-hitter and Christos Vangelatos drove in three runs in the state final.

“This is the best team I’ve ever been a part of,” Camastro-Szwejkowski said. “It is a family.”

ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

NSCHSAA first round: def. St. John the Baptist, 4-2

NSCHSAA second round: def. St. Anthony’s, 6-4

NSCHSAA semifinals: lost to Kellenberg, 3-2

NSCHSAA elimination bracket final: def. St. Anthony’s, 6-3

NSCHSAA championship series, Game 1: lost to Kellenberg, 11-4

NSCHSAA championship series, Game 2: def. Kellenberg, 7-0

NSCHSAA championship series, Game 3: def. Kellenberg, 4-1

State CHSAA semifinals: def. Iona Prep, 5-0

State CHSAA final: def. Nichols, 9-1

LONG ISLAND LUTHERAN

When Shaun Manning took over Long Island Lutheran baseball, it didn’t take long to reel off the names on the roster.

“When I came here six years ago, we had 10 kids that practiced twice a week,” the Crusaders’ coach said. “They were a lot better at ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ than they were baseball.”

Times have changed.

LuHi made the program’s first two appearances in the NYSAIS final these last two years.

“The best teacher in life is experience,” Manning said.

So the first state title came in May. Senior ace Matt Muzikant tossed a three-hitter in an 11-2 victory over Horace Mann at Purchase College, capping an 18-7 season for 26 players.

“We’re a special team,” Muzikant said. “We’re a little bit older. Last year, we only had one senior. This year, we have six seniors that play every single day.”

Matthew Garib, Jayden Hauser, Timothy Pequero, Cole Thomas and Fred Von Bargen were the others. They all had an impact.

“Those six seniors we have set the culture, set the tone, the work ethic, how to prepare, how to take things seriously, how to be a good teammate, all the little things,” Manning said. “You can’t win without culture. So that’s the first thing you have to change.”

Muzikant provided two innings of perfect relief to get the win in the NYSAIS semifinals against Fieldston, a team that beat LuHi in the 2024 semis and then again on a last-of-the-ninth squeeze in the 2025 final.

Then sophomore Vincent Bourne’s three-run inside-the-park homer and Hauser’s three RBIs complemented Muzikant’s winning work in the title round.

“Knowing he’s on the mound, he’s not going to let up a lot of runs,” Bourne said.

Bourne knew one other thing afterward:

“Knowing this was our only goal and to get here and win, actually pull in the trophy, means a lot.”

ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

NYSAIS quarterfinals: def. Columbia Prep, 10-3

NYSAIS semifinals: def. Fieldston, 5-1

NYSAIS final: def. Horace Mann, 11-2