Recapping the 2016 Season

by Vinny Messana

With Wantagh winning the Class A NYS title on Saturday, the 2016 season is officially complete.

This was an especially busy season for us at Baseball on the Island, as we expanded our game coverage to Nassau CC, Suffolk CC, Nassau HS and the Catholic League in addition to our customary NCAA-affiliated colleges. To start the season, I was in College Station to cover Hofstra’s season opening series against Texas A&M. I also went with them to West Point on March 8 to cover their road-game against Army.

We also had four episodes of Baseball on the Island Weekly and held an All-Star Game for the top college players from Nassau vs Suffolk.

To recap the season, I’m going to give out a couple awards based on the performances we’ve covered. Between my team of reporters and I, we covered 89 games.

Game of the Year:

West Islip @ Smithtown East, May 26th

This was as good as it gets. West Islip sent Jimmy Mattera to the mound looking to pitch them into the Suffolk County championship. Smithtown East countered with junior LHP Jon Goohs. The Lions got out to an early 1-0 lead on a sac fly by Ray Weber in the first.

Smithtown tied it up with an RBI single from Jon Marti–who had a monstrous season at the plate.

The teams exchanged runs in the fourth inning. West Islip scored on a bases-loaded double play while Smithtown East scored on an errant pickoff throw by Mattera to third base.

Weber ripped a go-ahead solo HR to left field to give the Lions a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning.

He came on in relief of Mattera. After walking the leadoff batter, he eventually got two outs, but it brought up Marti with first base open with the tying run on second base.

Coach Shawn Rush pondered whether to walk Marti but decided against it with his ace on the hill. Marti lined a single to left field–momentarily making that decision look bad. Mattera, the starting pitcher who moved to left, charged the ball and threw a strike to catcher Nick Valenti–who applied the tag to send the Lions to the Suffolk County championship game.

It was a crushing defeat for Smithtown East, who has been knocking at the door of the County championship for the past few seasons now but haven’t been able to get over the hump. Last year, they were defeated in the same round by the eventual champs–Connetquot.

Pitching Performance of the Year:

Bobby Hegarty, Wantagh June 3rd

When it was determined that ace Will O’Brien–a two-time All-State pitcher headed to St. Thomas Aquinas–was not able to pitch, it didn’t look promising for the Warriors, who had championship aspirations.

Worry not, because their No.3 starter has the big-game acumen as well.

Pitching against Mount Sinai‘s ace, Sam Kessler, he fired a one-hitter, in the biggest start of his life to that point. He allowed just a bloop single to catcher, George Rainer.

Hegarty didn’t allow the Mustangs any breathing room, working efficiently and mixing up his pitches.

He retired the final 12 batters he faced and got Kessler to ground out to end the ballgame. It was his seventh victory of the season, he ended up with his eighth in the state tournament.

Offensive Performance of the Year:

Nick Girardi, St. Joseph’s, May 11th

St. Joseph’s had not won a Skyline Conference championship since 2004 and had to play at Farmingdale State College, where they had plenty of bad experiences in the previous seven seasons.

They fell behind 5-0 in the first inning with Josh Outsen on the hill. They fought back, however, thanks in large part to the offensive performance from the reigning Skyline Player of the Year.

In the first inning he smacked an RBI triple to score Brendan Sullivan to cut the lead to 5-1. He hit a single in the third inning, but they failed to score.

In the seventh, he smacked his second triple of the game. The Golden Eagles ended up taking the lead in that inning, 6-5, thanks to Joe Lynn’s two-run triple.

In the ninth inning, he smacked a line drive to the deepest part of the field in center and Nick Attardi made a spectacular effort but he just missed it and went for his first double of the game.

Then, in the 11th inning, he ripped one off the wall in right field (just narrowly missing a walk-off shot) and settled for his second double of the day. He ended up scoring on a bases-loaded walk which sent the Golden Eagles into the NCAA regionals.

All told, he had 11 total bases in the game. They needed every bit of the offensive punch that he provided, which made it even more unique. There are days a player contributes to a blowout, but here was a guy that knew what was on the line and went 5-for-5 with four XBH in a game that hit team trailed 5-0. It was just an unbelievable performance.