Where Are They Now Powered by Prime Performance: Matt Prokopowicz

When Massapequa lost to East Meadow in the 2005 County Championship, there was a picture of the team celebrating on the mound. That picture was hung up in the locker room at Massapequa in the locker room.

“That picture of them lit the fire for the next 20 years,” said Matt Prokopowicz.

Hypernole or not, Massapequa went 29-0 in 2006 winning the Class AA Nassau County, Long Island and NYS Championships. Prokopowicz was a major part of that success as he was named All-State and hit a clutch HR in the Long Island Championship in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut into a 5-0 deficit.

Prokopowicz will go down as one of the best hitters in Long Island history, as he wound up attending Hofstra University where he is still the all-time hit king.

But before we get to that, let’s turn the clock back…

The Early Days

Matt was born and raised in Massapequa. He is the younger of two boys. His brother, Chris, is five-and-a-half years older and played football and baseball at Long Island Lutheran HS.

His father passed away when he was in 9th grade, which caused a difficult situation for his mother raising two boys on Long Island.

“She was the real MVP having to support two boys. She worked three jobs to make sure we had food on the table, a roof over our heads and clothes on our back. And she went back to school. They don’t make ’em like her anymore.” She is a registered dietician.

Matt cited his coach Chris Cafiero as having a major impact on him during those formative years. He was his basketball coach at Ames Middle School and ultimately his high school baseball coach from 10th-12th grade alongside Coach Tom Sheedy.

“I can’t thank Cafiero enough for what he did for me.”

On the diamond, “Proko” as he’s often referred to was Massapequa through and through. He played in the Massapequa Coast Little League “for as long as I can remember – probably at 4 or 5 years old.”

From the beginning, baseball was his passion. He recalls playing wiffle ball in the backyard with his brother emulating Ken Griffey Jr’s swing.

They were always a powerhouse Little League. One season they made it all the way to the state tournament where they ran into Colonie in the finals and lost to them. Massapequa would eventually get retribution on them in a big way in 2006. More on that later.

Prokopowicz playing for Massapequa Coast Little League

He also cited Rob Cafiero as someone that had a big impact on his success. He stated that, “whenever I was struggling I called up Cafiero and he would be there at the drop of a hat everytime.

“That’s what I base my coaching off of. I was was lucky to have a coach like them. If someone calls me, it’s ‘when and where’ and I’m there,” he said.

After playing little league, Matt played on the LI Braves travel team for two years which was comprised of many Massapequa kids. The next year he played for the Long Island Tigers, which he called “the juggernaut of that period of time before the Titans’.

“I’m still close with those guys. I got to play for the great Lou Petrucci. That summer I learned a lot from him. He’s a great baseball mind. We are still very close with him, we talk a lot.”

In the fall of 2003, Matt was asked to tryout for the newly formed Long Island Titans to play for Ray Babinsky. That was the birth of the organization that is now ubiquitous on the Long Island baseball scene. Tryouts were held at NY Tech and Matt tried out at SS alongside three other players – Lou Picconi, Josh Valle and Ricky Espinosa. Picconi went on to attend Penn State, Valle attended Marshall and Espinosa played at a junior college.

Proko would play third base for that team. Virtually the entire team played Division-I baseball. Their catchers (Tom Meaney, Andrew Wiernicki) attended UMBC and Iona. Brian Kemp (St. John’s), Tom Carberry (Binghamton), Derek Squires (Columbia), Mike Belfiore (Boston College/Baltimore Orioles), Glenn Gibson (Washington Nationals), Matt Petiton (North Carolina) and Prokopowicz (Hofstra).

Prokopowicz playing for the Long Island Titans in 2004

They would go onto compile a record of 57-6. Most notably they won the AABC World Series defeating future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, they also won the Mickle Mantle World Series in McKinney, Texas and the Select Six in Massachusetts where they defeated future big leaguer Josh Smoker, 6-3, who was pitching for the vaunted East Cobb Astros in the championship. Proko was named Most Valuable Player of two of those three tournaments.

“I was seeing a beach ball that summer,” he said.

In terms of his college recruiting process, it was a through one. Prokopowicz was widely regarded as one of the best hitters in the region.

“I was fortunate to play in front of a bunch of people. Having that opportunity, you obviously get looked at when you have success.”

His first call was on July 1, when the recruiting period opened up, by none other than legendary St. John’s coach Ed Blankmeyer.

“He called me and the first thing he said was, ‘Happy July 1’,” recalled Prokopowicz.

He received interest from schools all over the country. He narrowed down his choices to Auburn, St. John’s, Stony Brook and Hofstra. He was pretty set on staying close to home and having a chance to play right away. Auburn had Josh Donaldson and St. John’s had an All-American at third base, which didn’t bode well for his chances of playing right away.

Ultimately, he decided to attend Hofstra because his mom and his brother worked in Valley Stream and they’d be able to attend all the home games.

Massapequa High School

Proko was called up to varsity as a freshman. He noted that they had good players but “we didn’t know how to win yet.” Massapequa always had a rich tradition in sports. They had a period of prosperity in the 90s when they won the County Championship in 1995, 1996 and 1999. They had a bit of a drought – by their standards in the early part of the 2000s.

They lost to East Meadow in the 2005 County Championship, and Prokopowicz noted that it had a huge impact on his squad as they were hellbent on not coming up short again.

“From tryouts, Coach Sheedy and Cafiero knew how determined we were. We knew the game by that point. All of those guys had been playing for Cafiero and he taught everyone what to do and how to do. It was just about getting reps and getting at bats and innings to get ready to do it.”

Massapequa has a tradition of going to Disney and playing games which serves as a de factor Spring Training for the team. Proko estimated they had about 20 at bats each and “by mid March we were in midseason form.”

They entered in a tournament against high schools from the city. Two of those teams were James Monroe, who was ranked 5th in the nation and Grand Street Campus.

Monroe had LHP Danny Almonte, yes that one, and they defeated them on a walk-off home run by Prokopowicz. They also faced Grand Street Campus, who was led by future big leaguer Dellin Betances.

“Sheedy’s one condition was that if we played them, Betances had to pitch.”

Massapequa came away with a 10-0 shutout win.

Now, it should be noted that there was a game against Holy Trinity that is a major point of contention. Depending on who you ask, the game was either a scrimmage or a non-league. If it was a scrimmage, the game doesn’t count. If it’s a non-league game, the game counts. Holy Trinity contends that it should’ve been a non-leaguer while Massapequa says that they wouldn’t have used wood bats if it was a non-league game. Regardless, Holy Trinity came away with the win behind future draft pick Keith Couch. Prokopowicz said their starters were out after 3 innings, playing pepper in the outfield after they came out.

Officially, the game doesn’t count.

Massapequa would not be stopped by anyone. Led by their dynamic 1-2 punch of Mike Scudero and Mike Bartlett (both Adelphi) atop the rotation along with Tom Meaney, Dan Robinson (both Dominican), Mike Andriano (UMASS-Boston) and Matt Trainor & Matt Prokopowicz (both Hofstra), the Chiefs went undefeated through the regular season and postseason.

“We basically ran through everyone,” Prokopowicz recalled.

In the County Championship, they swept MacArthur. Proko says, “you would think we would’ve dog piled on the mound but we just lined up and high fived each other.”

They had their sights set on the bigger bigger which was the next week against East Islip.

The game took place at Fireman’s Field in Valley Stream, Proko noted that he’ll never forget that field because he could see his grandmother’s house from the field.

“It was a wild game. We were tested and thank God we were. Some of the teams in the 90s, you wonder how they never won a state championship and Sheedy told us it’s been they were never challenged. That’s how him and Cafiero always made it their point to give us the best schedule they could so we would be ready.”

East Islip sent RHP Peter Bregartner to the mound and he was absolutely electric for the first 5.1 innings, holding the vaunted Chiefs lineup hitless as he worked with a 4-0 lead.

In the 6th, the Chiefs got their offense going after a single by Dan Robinson and a walk by Maloney. Prokopowicz came through, as he generally did, as he crushed an opposite field 3-run homer to cut the deficit to 5-3 in the 6th inning. Additionally, he had come on in relief to weather the storm and keep the game close which he did.

In the top of the 7th, Eric Herbst hit an RBI single to increase the Redmen’s lead to 5-3. In the bottom of the seventh, the first two Chiefs’ batters were retired. East Islip was just 1 out away from pulling the massive upset over the undefeated juggernaut.

It was not to be, though.

Pinch hitter Chris Iovino beat out an infield single on a grounder to shortstop, much to the dismay of East Islip’s coach Sal Ciampi.

“It could’ve went either way. If he beat it, it was by 1/16th of a second. But the ump called him safe and that was the call.”

That set the stage for the heroics of another pinch hitter, Jason Buono, who crushed a clutch game-tying two-out, two-out HR to make it 5-5 and send the team into a frenzy.

The game would go into extra innings after East Islip failed to score in the 7th.

Massapequa would waste no time as cleanup hitter Dan Nagorski smacked a walk-off home run to win in the most dramatic of fashion and improving Massapequa’s record to 27-0 on the season.

Would this be another subdued celebration for the Chiefs?

“Oh my God, we celebrated that one. I think we’re still celebrating. There was a great picture of Sheedy with his arms up, I’ll never forget that,” said Prokopowicz. With the win, the Chiefs would head up to Binghamton looking for the first State Championship in program history.

In the first game, they faced Pinebush who sent highly-touted LHP Jared Balbach to the mound who would later attend Sacred Heart on a scholarship. Adelphi countered with Mike Bartlett. Both pitchers exchanged zeros through five innings.

In the sixth, Dan Robinson got on base and stole second. Maloney followed and rolled over a grounder to second base and Robinson never stopped running. He came around to score to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.

In the seventh inning, Bartlett went back to the mound and got the first two outs. Coach Cafiero came to the mound. Proko noted he was taking his time which prompted the umpire to come.

“What do you want to do, Coach?” said the umpire.

“What do you think I should do?” responded Cafiero.

“Well he’s throwing a gem,” the umpire responded.

“You’re right, Proko grab your glove.”

Prokopowicz came on in relief, and on the first pitch, coaxed the game-ending ground out to seal the 1-0 win and put them one win away. When asked how often he pitched, Prokopowicz responded, “whenever I was needed.”

In the championship game, Massapequa was matched up against Colonie, the same squad that eliminated them in the 2001 Little Leagues NYS Championship. It’s safe to say Massapequa got their revenge as they destroyed them, 16-0.

“I broke the ice in the second inning with a home run and we never stopped scoring.”

With that, Massapequa put the icing on an undefeated season with a 29-0 record. Prokopowicz said, “It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a baseball field.”

Prokopowicz finished his HS career a two-time All-State player and with a ridiculous .500 career average, 18 HRs and 102 RBIs.

Hofstra University

In an interesting twist of fate, Hofstra opened up the 2007 season at Auburn – the same school Prokopowicz nearly attended. After going hitless in game 1 of the series, he went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored in the second game.

“I was a little nervous my first game. The student section was right next to third base. They were ragging on me pretty good. By the third game, they kind of stopped that. After the game the coaches came over to me and wished me luck the rest of the way.”

Prokopowicz did not stop hitting all year. He had a freshman season for the ages. He played in all 54 games and set a program record with 82 hits (that stood until 2012). He led the team in batting average (.416), hits (82), HRs (6), RBIs (52), total bases (113), SLG (.574) and OBP (.491) while tying for the team lead in doubles (11).

For his efforts, he was named to freshman All-American teams by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Ping! Baseball. He was second team All-CAA and CAA Rookie of the Year.

Following the season, he played in the NECL for the Vermont Mountaineers. He played for Hofstra’s future manager, John Russo, and was teammates with future big leaguer AJ Pollack – whose uncle was Matt’s 6th grade teacher.

“I was lucky enough to win the championship my first year year. It was almost like Pro Ball.”

In 2008, his power numbers picked up. He crushed 8 HRs and drove in 39 runs and compiled a strong .904 OPS while being named All-CAA third team. Following the season, he went and played in the prestigious Northwoods League for Minnesota.

“It was a cool experience playing all across the midwest and getting to travel. The 11-hour bus rides were a little tough,” he said.

He played in 39 games in 2009, batting .344 with 9 doubles, 3 HRs and 30 RBIs and a strong .421 OBP. He compiled the best game of his career against St. John’s going 4-for-6 with HR, two doubles, 8 RBIs and 3 runs scored. He also finished the season on a tear going 7-for-12 with 4 RBIs against William and Mary.

Prokopowicz posted the best season of his career as a season in 2010. He posted a ridiculous slash line of .431/.526/.638 for an 1.164 OPS. He crushed 6 HRs and drove in 41 runs. He was named first team All-CAA. His .431 AVG was 7th highest in program history and 18th in the country. Proko compiled an 18-game hit streak. And he did so while learning a new position at 2nd base while committing only 4 errors.

He finished his Hofstra career as the program’s hits leader and a robust .391 AVG and .468 OBP.

“I went to a few pro workouts but never got a call, and I never wanted to find out why. I’m still able to look myself in the mirror knowing that I worked as hard as I could.”

Following his career, he was on his way home when his buddy called and asked if he wanted to play in a men’s league game at Eisenhower Park. He didn’t have any plans so he decided to give it a shot and head down. On the first pitch, he hit a moon shoot.

“I left right after that. The pitcher was like 45-years-old. I couldn’t do that anymore.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Prokopowicz noted if he had to do it again, he probably would’ve been more active in putting himself out there to colleges, but in the days before social media, that wasn’t always possible. In the end, he has no regrets with his decision to play at Hofstra.

“The CAA is a tremendous conference that’s produced plenty of big leaguers.”

The Next Chapter

Prokopowicz got right into coaching. Rob Malandro, legendary Holy Trinity coach, gave him a call and asked if he wanted to coach the rest of the season, which he agreed to.

“I probably would still be there, but when John Russo got the job at Hofstra the first call he made was to me. My title was the student assistant, I worked with the hitters.”

That was Hofstra’s best season in program history, as they were led by Arizona Diamondbacks 10th draft pick Danny Poma, who broke Proko’s single-season hits record with 102. They stole 157 bases as a team.

Proko got into coaching travel ball in 2014 with the Long Island Titans, where he remains to this day. He had been coaching the 15/16u teams until 2019 when his first child was born. He decided the travel was too much and he has coached their collegiate league teams since then.

He’s been married since 2017. He met his wife in HS, where they started dating at 16 years old. After breaking up for a period of time, they have been together since 2012.

At the end of 2019, Prokopowicz got his opportunity to be a head coach at St. Dominic HS, getting promoted after being Brian Anderson’s assistant in 2019. After the cancelled season in 2020, he helped lead them to a playoff win in 2021 over St. Anthony’s before their season was ended. Following the season, he stepped down.

“When I’m all in, I’m all in. Between practices, games, winter workouts and the 40-minute commute each way, I felt like he was never home.”

On the way home one day, he was driving past Massapequa HS and decided to stop by and say hello. “I just had this feeling, it would be cool and a perfect fit if I could work at Massapequa with Sheedy and Cafe. My wife worked in Massapequa and my kids could come to all the games and practices. That was huge.” He did that for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He was in the dugout when Erik Paulsen Jr hit his dramatic walk-off grand slam to win the County Championship over Plainview JFK.

Pat Miles, head coach of Kellenberg, is a close friend of Proko. “He was non-stop asking me to consider coming to Kellenberg. It was very hard to leave Massapequa but being a volunteer is hard. Kelleneberg has been awesome. Everyone was so welcoming and that made it a lot easier for me with the transition.” He’s been coaching for the last year.

Prokopowicz has three children; Finnegan (6), Charlotte (3) and Bennett (1). His full-time job is with Lipari Trucking, he does appliance delivery and installation.

At his core, Prokopowicz is a baseball guy and his heart will forever be in Massapequa.

“I don’t think I’ll ever leave. There’s everything at your disposal – restaurants, the little league, the schools. They had over 500 people at the little league dinner the other night.”

It’s all come full circle as Prokopowicz’ oldest son is entering Massapequa Coast Little League – where it all began.