by John Sullivan
(Photo: Catherine Scarantino)
Hauppauge starting pitcher Matt Neglia takes us through what was working for him on the mound in his phenomenal complete game performance pic.twitter.com/xTN0RcSjYw
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 2, 2024
The Long Island Championship between Hauppauge and Division was obviously a very big game, but this one meant just a little more for both programs.
For Hauppauge, they were trying to capture their first ever Long Island Championship, and for perennial powerhouse, Division, they were looking to avenge last years Long Island Championship loss, in which they led for most of the game, but ultimately lost to West Babylon.
In their biggest game in program history, Hauppauge gave the ball to St. Thomas Aquinas-commit Matt Neglia, who has been dominant all year long for the Eagles. For Division, there were some questions surrounded around whether they’d gave the start to Old Westbury-commit Matt Marino or St. Thomas Aquinas-commit Christian Varela. Coming off his no-hitter in Game 2 of the Nassau Country Championship, Christian Varela was given the nod from legendary Coach Tom Tuttle of Division.
Varela carried his momentum from the Nassau County Championship into the top of the first, as he worked around a 1-out single from John Margolies by getting Mike Oliveto to pop out to catcher Caiden Siegel and Matt Neglia to groundout to shortstop Isaiah Marino for a scoreless inning.
In the bottom of the first, the Division offense went straight to work, as lead off batter Caiden Siegel smoked a single up the middle on the first pitch he saw. KK DeLaCruz followed this up with a bunt single, which Hauppauge threw into right field and allowed for Siegel to advance to third and KK to move up to second. With first base open, head coach Josh Gutes decided to intentionally walk Binghamton-commit Matt Bolton to load the bases with no outs. Isaiah Marino stepped to the plate and worked a great at bat for a walk and an RBI. With his back against the wall, Matt Neglia needed to make some big pitches to avoid Division blowing the game open, and that exactly what he did. After he walked Marino, Neglia got Cody Brush to hit a ground ball for a 6-2-3 double play. He then forced an unbalanced swing from Aidan Quinn, who popped out to shortstop to end the first inning. Although Division was up 1-0, it felt like Hauppauge had the momentum after Neglia worked out of a bases loaded and no out jam.
Division throws away a potential double play ball, which allows Hauppauge to score two more. They lead it 4-1 heading into the bottom of the second pic.twitter.com/zTUXHQHsKt
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2024
In the top of the second, Hauppauge proved they had a momentum. The inning started with three straight singles from Cole Wood, Kevin Walker, and Kyle Megill. This brought up Alex Ofgang with bases loaded and no outs. Alex did his job, as he turned on an inside fastball for a sac fly to left field that brought in Cole Wood. The next batter, Vincent Crafa ripped a line drive single into right field to score Kevin Walker and give Hauppauge a 2-1 lead. Tucker Brown followed this up with a single fo center field and the bases were once again loaded for Hauppauge. With one out, John Margolies stepped up to the plate and hit a routine double play ball to second that would’ve gotten Division out of the inning, but after getting the first out at second, Division threw the ball away to allow Hauppauge to score 2 runs and extend the lead to 4-1. Fortunately for Division, Varela was able to get the next batter to fly out to center field for the final out of the inning.
Division seemed like they were gonna strike back in the bottom of the second after singles from Demetrios Zirogiannis and Jason Perez, but Matt Neglia was able to dig in and induced a fly out to center from Tyler Diez and a 6-4-3 double play ball hit by Caiden Siegel.
After the second, both starting pitchers seemed to settle in. Varela had a quick 1-2-3 inning in the third with two groundouts and a strikeout, and Neglia responded with a 1-2-3 inning of his own with a strikeout, pop out, and groundout in the bottom half of the inning. In the fourth, Hauppauge’s offense threatened to extend the lead after a 1 out single from Vincent Crafa and a walk drawn by Tucker Brown. But Varela was able to get out of the jam after back to back fly outs from John Margolies and Mike Oliveto. In the bottom of the fourth, Division’s cleanup hitter Isaiah Marino smoked a line drive single into center field. But Neglia wasn’t fazed from this, as he got Cody Brush to ground into a fielders choice, he struck out Demetrios Zirogiannis and Jason Perez hit a grounded out to third to end the inning and keep the score at 4-1.
In the top of the fitfth, Varela continued to roll, as he had another very quick 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout and two groundouts. Unfortunately for Division, Matt Neglia also continued to roll on the mound. Despite a one out Caiden Siegel single, Neglia induced pop outs from KK DeLaCruz and Matt Bolton to bring Hauppauge’s 4-1 lead into the sixth.
Unsurprisingly, Varela had yet another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, this time with three pop outs. With only six outs left and a three run deficit, Division desperately needed to get something going on offense.
Isaiah Marino did get something going with a lead off single into center field. The next batter, Cody Brush, hit a hard ground ball down the third base line, but Hauppauge third baseman, John Margolies made a phenomenal diving play for the first out of the inning. Aidan Quinn was the next Division player to come up and he jumped all over an outside fastball and drove it into the right field gap for a double that scored Marino and cut the lead to 4-2. With only one out, Division still had plenty of opportunity to score, but Matt Neglia once again worked out of jam by striking out Demetrios Zirogiannis and getting Jason Perez to popout to first base. Hauppauge brought a 4-2 lead into the seventh.
Christian Varela continued his excellence on the mound in the seventh with another quick scoreless inning. Varela ended his day with 8 hits given up, 1 walk, and only two earned runs in seven innings.
With only three outs remaining with a Long Island Championship on the line, Matt Neglia took the mound for his seventh inning of work, and Farmingdale State commit-Tyler Diez led things off for Division. With the Division faithful making lots of noise, Diez came up clutch with a line drive single into field to start off the inning and bring up Division’s top of the order. The lead off hitter Caiden Siegel ripped a line drive into right field, but unfortunately for Division, it was hit right at Hauppauge right fielder Kyle Magill for the first out of the inning. Down to their final two outs, KK Delacruz put up a great battle against Neglia, but ultimately Neglia won the battle after he broke off a nasty curveball that DeLaCruz swung and miss on for the second out. With two outs and a man on, Binghamton-commit and potential Diamond Award winner Matt Bolton stepped up to the plate for Division. Neglia didn’t step down through, as he pounded the zone against one of the best hitters in the entire Northeast. This decision almost burned Hauppauge, as Bolton drilled a double over the right fielder’s head to score Diez and make the score 4-3. Coach Gutes decided to put on the winning run by intentionally walking the next batter, Isaiah Marino. After a wild pitch that helped the tying run advance to third and the winning run advance to second, it seemed like Coach Gutes might regret this decision. But, just like he had done all game, Matt Neglia made a big time pitch and got Cody Brush to roll over to third baseman John Margolies for the final out of the game and Hauppauge captured their first Long Island Championship in program history!
Neglia gets Brush to roll over to third and Hauppauge is the AA Long Island Champions! What a performance for Matt Neglia pic.twitter.com/xhKnmASvyC
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2024
The game was an instant classic, with constant action and what seemed like a million pressure spots. Both pitchers put up unbelievable performances and there is no doubt that St. Thomas Aquinas is getting two absolute gamers in their program next year in Christian Varela and Matt Neglia. In the end, the difference was Hauppauge coming through in clutch spots and making every play on defense. Hauppauge’s first Long Island Championship was definitely one that was well-earned and they will look to continue their winning ways on Friday in Binghamton in the state tournament.
