Jeff Tyler always found a way to win.
Whether it was during his storied high school career for the MacArthur Generals or in college for the Adelphi Panthers there was often a W next to his name in the box score. In fact, even long after his career ended he still found a way to be the winning pitcher.
That’s right, even at Adelphi’s Alumni day many years after his final competitive pitch, he was able to hawk a win against Adelphi’s current team.
Jeff Tyler owns Long Island’s record for the most wins in a varsity career with 32. He played during the height of Levittown’s special run in which he led the Generals to back-to-back Long Island Championships in 1993 and 1994.
But to understand the full story, you must start from the beginning.
The Early Days
Tyler was born and raised in Levittown, NY, in a household with 4 children. His older sister, Tracy, was an excellent softball player. She set many records at MacArthur and went on to become an All-American in college at the University of Bridgeport. She was a part of a Long Island Championship winning team in 1989. Her coach, Rick Leek, was the father of his future teammate, Randy Leek, and was also a huge influence on his playing career dating back to Little League and culminating as his high school pitching coach.
Growing up in the 1980s meant Jeff gravitated towards the New York Mets and he fondly remembers them winning the 1986 World Series as a 10-year-old and attending the ticker tape parade with his family. He cited Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez as his favorite players growing up.
From a young age, it was evident that Jeff had a bright future as a baseball player. Growing up in a baseball town like Levittown afforded him some great opportunities to travel and play against top-tier competition.
When he was 10, they made it to the Pony World Series in which they lost to Puerto Rico in the semifinals in Virginia. They played games in Brooklyn and Massachusetts leading up to it.
The next year, they lost to East Harlem in Brooklyn.
The following year, they returned to the Pony World Series which was held in Sacramento, CA. They got revenge on Puerto Rico, defeating them in an elimination game. Tyler pitched against and got the win against the Philippines. Ultimately, they lost to a team from West Covina, CA. It was covered by the local publications.
“It was a great experience. I think that’s why playing varsity baseball was an easy transition because we were holding runners on and stealing bases and we learned to play baseball the right way.”
MacArthur HS
Fast forward a few years and Tyler was called up to play varsity baseball as a 9th grader. MacArthur was always a good baseball program but his group of teammates had been playing together since Little League and already developed a winning culture which paved the way for their future success.
Tyler had taken pitching lessons from Howie Gershberg and Dave Lemanczyk but he credits most of his abilities as a pitcher to what he learned from Rick Leek.
“I think a lot of it came from him,” he said.
Tyler had immediate success, going 7-2 as a freshman. He noted that he had about 20 pickoffs at first base, citing his chemistry with Randy Leek at first. As time went on, he didn’t allow many base runners, limiting his need to control the running game.
In his sophomore year, one game stood out. Tyler noted a game against Plainedge where he matched up against future Diamond Award winner Tom Tierney. The final score was 1-0, MacArthur, with the lone run scoring on an error. The game time? 41 minutes. Plainedge went on to beat Division in the County Finals. He also had a win over Baldwin, who was a strong team. Ultimately, Tyler said that year’s MacArthur team “was just not as potent” as the next two years.
That summer, he pitched in the Empire State Games. He was the only sophomore on the roster, he was recommended by legendary Division coach Doug Robins. He pitched the opening game and got the win.
By his junior year, MacArthur was the best team in the county led by their dominant pitching staff of Tyler, Randy Leek and Rob Bigan. Also, their coach (the aptly named) Greg MacArthur left and was replaced by Steve Costello – who is now among the winningest coaches in Long Island history.
They went 25-4 overall and captured the Nassau County Championship in a three game series against Roslyn who had accounted for two of the Generals’ losses that year. Tyler pitched Game 1 and Leek pitched Game 3 with the season on the line. After Leek ran into trouble in the 3rd inning, Tyler came in from 1st base, swapping positions with him, and got out of the jam in a close game which turned into a 9-1 win for the Generals. Leek came back in from 1st base to close the game.
They advanced to face Kings Park in the Long Island Championship at Hauppauge HS with Tyler taking a perfect game into the 6th inning before allowing a two out single to the 9-hitter, Pete Vitale. It was the only base runner he allowed, striking out 11 batters. They came away with a 2-0 win, as he out dueled Chuck Alben, and advanced to the NYS Class B seminfinals in Little Falls, NY.
“That game I was lights out, I should’ve had a perfect game,” he said.
In the State Semifinals , Tyler took a no-hitter into the 4th inning but it turned out to be a 3-1 loss as a two-run triple by Emilio Claudio in the bottom of the 6th inning broke a 1-1 tie. Remarkably, he had allowed just 1 ER over 72 innings entering the game. He finished with a 0.18 ERA.
That summer, Tyler continued to roll.
He pitched for the Bayside Yankees in the NABF 16u World Series in Beaumont, TX. He won the Gold Medal game against Meridian, MS. He fired a 2-hitter with 10 Ks in what he called “one of the best games of my life.” The opposing team’s leadoff batter was current Yankees hitting coach, James Rowson.
It was there that he was noticed by Lamar University coach Jim Gilligan. He wound up committing there. He had offers from some other schools but he noted that his grades were not the best in high school.
By senior year, MacArthur had one thing on their mind and it was to win a state championship.
“We had one close game – it was the first game of the year. Our catcher, Jim Kegel, dropped down a suicide squeeze and we won 1-0. After that, we went through everyone.”
They outscored their opponents by a ridiculous 307-32 on the season.
They defeated rival Division in the best-of-three Nassau County Championship. Randy Leek got the final two outs with the bases loaded to secure a 5-4 win. Tyler estimated that about 2,000 people were in attendance.
That setup a rematch with Kings Park in the Long Island Championship where Tyler faced Chuck Alben again. They shut them out, 5-0. Tyler pitched a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks to improve the team to 27-0 on the season.
In the New York State semifinals they trounced Tonawanda Kenmore East, 11-3, behind Tyler’s 12th victory of the season while he added 10 more strikeouts. In the finals, they overcame an early 2-0 deficit against Marlboro to win 8-2 behind a gem by Rob Bigan, who fired a 1-hitter with both runs scoring on wild pitches.
They became the first Long Island team to go undefeated and win a state championship. Their pitching staff notched 16 shutouts in the 29 games and they batted .399 as team.
Shortstop Vin Causeman, who would later to go on and become Stony Brook’s all-time hit leader, was named MVP of the State Tournament. He went 6-for-6 with 2 walks in the two games. Tyler spoke extremely highly of Causeman, who he said was his shortstop since 10u. Causeman’s 53 hits in 1994 still ranks 10th all-time in the New York State record books. He also praised CF Mike Messner, who he said “was probably the best athlete on the team” and he threw a 1-hitter in the playoffs as well. He would go on to play at Florida Atlantic.
They certainly have a case to be called the greatest team in Long Island history. Their stiffest competition is probably their neighbors, Division, who matched that feat just two years later.
Tyler capped his season by being named the Diamond Award recipient, given to the top player in Nassau County. In addition to going 12-0 and dominating in every outing, he also batted .425 with 36 RBIs and a school record with 12 doubles.
This was the first year that Nassau awarded two Diamond Award winners, the recipient of the position player award was given to Bethpage catcher Ryan Caulfield, who tragically lost his battle with Lupus at age 33.
College
Tyler would begin his collegiate career at Lamar University getting thrown right into the fire.
He pitched against the University of Texas and came in with the bases loaded, 0 out against the top of the lineup. He got out of it allowing just 1 run. His next outing was in relief against LSU, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. He recalled that it was the day after Mardi Gras, in which the team spent some time on Bourbon Street that night.
Ultimately, they won the Sun Belt Conference Championship after losing the first game. They advanced to the Regional, where they beat Wichita State twice, but lost to Stanford, who ultimately advanced to the College World Series.
He called it a “cool experience”, and he finished his freshman year with 25 innings but expecting to compete for a rotation spot the next season.
That summer, he pitched in the National Amateur All-Star Baseball Tournament in Pine Bluff, AK which was for some of the top 16-18u players in the nation. He won the semifinal game to pitch them into the championship, which was broadcasted on ESPN2. In attendance was President Bill Clinton and the opposing team was coached by big leaguer George Foster. His roommate during the tournament was future big leaguer, JJ Putz.
Upon going back to school, Tyler felt pain in his shoulder which ultimately prevented him from pitching and he used his medical redshirt that year.
He went back to Lamar University in the fall but the coach told him he should find a Junior College to play at to rehab and get back to full strength. He had a connection at Cochise Junior College in Arizona which is where Tyler transferred to. He recalled that the school had three sports; baseball, basketball and rodeo.
He tried to return to the mound but it didn’t feel right and he transitioned to first base. It went incredibly well, as he batted close to .400 that season. He called it an “awesome” experience at the school, but he came back home to finish up his career. He wound up getting his shoulder checked out and it turned out to be a labrum tear which was repaired by Mets team doctor David Altchek.
Rick Leek was friends with Adelphi coach Ron Davies and it was a perfect fit for Tyler so he transferred there for the fall of 1998. He recalled sitting in the Athletic Director, Bob Hartwell’s office, trying to get his release form in order to be eligible to play. Unfortunately, he was deemed ineligible and he would have to sit out that year.
He returned for the 1999 season for one last hurrah and he certainly made the most of it.
Adelphi, who was in the midst of their golden era, made their third appearance in the College World Series in four years. Tyler was outstanding, going a perfect 12-0 with a 1.50 ERA, 9 complete games, 84 innings pitched and being named All-American. He was also named the Division-II Pitcher of the Year.
He was phenomenal in the playoffs, winning two games in the Northeast Regional (Concordia and UMASS-Lowell) and he pitched and was the winning pitcher against Ashland in their first game of the CWS, but they lost their next two games to Cal State Chico and Virginia State to have their title hopes end.
Nevertheless, it was a remarkable final collegiate season for Tyler who was named to Adelphi’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
He got his degree and was the pitching coach for Adelphi the next year before the real world came calling.
The Next Chapter
Tyler wound up getting a job as a substitute teacher for a year before he got his first full-time job at Vanderchild High School in the Bronx where he taught for 4 years. His next job was the Bronx Leadership Academy which was also in the Bronx.
He had his first child, Zach, in October 2008. In December of ’08, he began teaching at Robert F. Kennedy Community HS in Flushing, Queens where he remains to this day.
He later had his second son, Logan, who is in 5th grade and plays baseball, basketball and football. Hr plays summer ball for the NY Longhorns.
Tyler has had numerous coaching positions including being Tom Tuttle’s assistant at Division HS for a year. He was the Head Coach of Westbury HS in 2002 and he also coached his son for the Farmingdale Greendogs for several seasons. Currently, he coaches girls soccer for his high school, which he’s done for 8 years.
He was also a Nassau County umpire for varsity baseball for five years.
His wife, Melissa, has an athletic background as well. She played soccer at Farmingdale State College before transferring to SUNY New Paltz. She was on the first girls rugby team in school history.
While the years go on, the records last forever.
MacArthur will always hold the title for being the first undefeated team in Long Island history to win the NYS Title and Tyler’s name will remain etched in the Long Island record books.
