Connor Ackerman pitches 3-hitter to lead St. Dominic into CHSAA state baseball final
Connor Ackerman, shown during St. Dominic's win in the NSCHSAA final, pitched the Bayhawks to the win in a state semifinal. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
St. Dominic got a big pitching performance and put together a big inning. Now the Bayhawks are in the big game, the ultimate game to determine the top CHSAA baseball team in the state.
Connor Ackerman fired a three-hitter and Mike Scarry picked up his second RBI single of the game in a four-run fifth as St. Dominic emerged from its state CHSAA semifinal with a 5-0 win over Iona Prep on Friday night at St. John’s University.
So the Bayhawks (22-14) will go after the program’s first state championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. John’s. Their opponent? To be determined.
Friday afternoon’s semifinal between Nichols and St. Francis Prep was postponed because of the heat index being more than 100 degrees. They will play at 10 a.m. Saturday for the right to face St. Dominic.
Bayhawks coach Joe Fusco said URI commit Ray Kim or Tyler Camastro will be his starter.
“We’re extremely confident,” Fusco said. “Every team that’s left is a champion. Every team’s a great team. But we’re just very confident in the guys that we have.”
Certainly, Ackerman inspires confidence. After earning a 4-1 win over Kellenberg in the deciding Game 3 of the NSCHSAA tournament, the Hofstra-bound junior righty improved to 4-1 with his work vs. Iona Prep. He fanned five and walked two.
“He was fantastic,” Fusco said. “I don’t even know what other word to use. He just executed every pitch all night. He made one mistake the entire night, which didn’t come back to hurt him because he pitched out of the one little jam he had.”
Iona Prep couldn’t pitch out of the big jam it faced.
Riding a 1-0 lead on Scarry’s single in the first, St. Dominic received RBI singles from Cristian Moreno, Zach Cook-Rosario and Scarry as well as a sacrifice fly from Chris Vangelatos in that fifth-inning rally to expand the margin to five.
“Our lineup’s been super-consistent all year,” Fusco said. “We have either Division I or high-Division II college players up and down the lineup. So they do a great job of wearing pitchers down, and they did that again tonight.”
Just getting to this point says a lot about the Bayhawks.
“They’re extremely resilient,” Fusco said. “We actually do a lot of mental toughness stuff at practice. Luckily enough for us, that’s paid off.”
