Port Washington takes on Bayonne (N.J.) on Monday in second game of Metro Region tournament
Port Washington's Brandon Kien with a leadoff single against Lincoln in the Metro Region tournament in Bristol, Conn., on Aug. 8, 2026. Credit: Jessica Hill
One win down, one more step toward Williamsport.
The Port Washington 12U Little League baseball team will face Bayonne (New Jersey) at 1 p.m. Monday in its second game of the Metro Region tournament. It opened with a 10-3 victory over Rhode Island’s Lincoln on Saturday at the Little League East Region headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Bayonne defeated Connecticut’s Darien, 8-2, on Saturday night to set up Monday’s matchup. The winner of the regional tournament advances to the Little League World Series beginning Aug. 19 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Port Washington used a balanced attack against Lincoln, scoring in four of six innings and receiving strong pitching from Drew Theoharis, Carlo Cafferata and Jackson Gorynski. The trio held Lincoln to three hits.
Third baseman Jack Gomez, who singled to drive in two runs in the third inning, was pleased that the win gave Port Washington another opportunity to experience the atmosphere of playing on a regional stage after winning the New York State championship last week.
“It feels really good to represent New York because not a lot of other teams have this opportunity,” he said. “We have it and we just have to take advantage of it. We’ve been playing good baseball, so we’re feeling good.”
Port Washington has emphasized preparation and consistency throughout its run, and second baseman Gorynski — who had an RBI double in the fourth inning Saturday — said he believes those habits have carried into this tournament.
“Our focus, paying attention to detail and practicing every day makes us really good,” he said. “We have really good team chemistry, too, which I think helps us in games with making plays.”
Shortstop Brandon Kien helped seal the victory, hitting a two-run double and scoring on an error in the sixth. Kien said the pitch was not necessarily one he usually would swing at.
“I’m not going to lie, I should not have swung on that pitch,” he said with a laugh. “It was a little high, and I know that for next time, but it worked out and I got on second from it. We got two runs off of that hit, so I was happy about it.”
Though Port Washington was playing more than 100 miles from home, the bleachers were a sea of blue.
Aside from supporters making the trip on their own, the community’s youth activities organization sent a fan bus that carried about 20 friends, family and community members to Saturday’s game.
Port Washington Little League president Eric Trenaman said the energy on the bus was unmatched. A bus will not be sent for Monday’s game — or Wednesday’s, if Port Washington loses on Monday — but if the team is playing for the championship on Friday, Trenaman said a bus will be sent with all the support it can get.
“The rallies, the hype, the social media, the whole community is just exploding with excitement,” he said. “Being three hours away, we wanted to come up with a way to give people an opportunity to get up there and be part of it.”
After Saturday’s win, Port Washington manager Dave Gabriel said the remainder of the night and Sunday’s rest day were spent scouting other teams and preparing for Bayonne. Darien eliminated Lincoln, 6-2, on Sunday night and will play the loser of Monday’s Port Washington-Bayonne game.
“We want to see who we’re going to play on Monday for sure,” Gabriel said Saturday before learning his team would be playing Bayonne. “We already saw some teams earlier [Saturday], so we want to see the two other teams that are in our bracket. From there, we can make a game plan moving forward.”
Tess Ferguson is a reporter on Newsday's high school sports staff. She joined the team after graduating with a journalism degree from Ithaca College in 2025.
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