(Editor’s Note: This is the ninth of a 10-part “Where Are They Now” series in which look back on some of the top players in Long Island history. Previously, we featured James Bailin, Jeff Tyler, Jake Thomas, Luke Stampfl, Nick Trabacchi, Thomas Roulis, Billy Alvino and Matt Prokopowicz. Special thanks to Prime Performance for sponsoring this year’s series.)
Had Instagram and TikTok been around, there’s no doubt there would’ve been a barrage of content built around Connetquot in the late 80s and all of the 1990s. They were the premier baseball program in Suffolk County, capturing the State Championship in 1989 and 1995 and were always contending for a County Championship under the late, great Bob Ambrosini.
In 1999, Connetquot did not win the County Championship, having been knocked off by East Islip in the playoffs, but they were headed by not one, but two of the best players on Long Island that season – and they hit back-to-back in the order. They were Dominic Ambrosini and B.J. LaMura. Ambrosini, the left-handed fielding shortstop and power hitter extraordinaire was only pitched to due to the presence of B.J. LaMura behind him in the order. Ambrosini was committed to Arizona State and LaMura to Clemson University.
LaMura would go on to have a lengthy playing career that featured 2 trips to Omaha for the College World Series, 9 seasons in affiliated ball, 1 stint in the Venezuelan League and an appearance in the 2009 World Baseball Classic for Team Italy.
It’s a baseball resumé that few can match. But first let’s take it back to the beginning.
The Early Days
BJ’s Baseball Reference page notes he was born in Mineola, but it was just that – the hospital he was born in. He was raised in Ronkonkoma. He was the third of four children – one older brother, one older sister and a younger brother.
He was from an athletic family, as his sister played basketball and was a gymnast and his younger brother wound up playing at Division-II Millersville. His father played high school sports at Valley Stream Central.
In those early years, he grew up idolizing Don Mattingly and admiring the greatness of Michael Jordan. As he grew up, he gravitated towards emulating Mariano Rivera on the mound.
He was a true multi-sport athlete as he played baseball, basketball, soccer and football. He gave up soccer after middle school, played 4 years of varsity baseball and basketball and played varsity football in 9th and 10th grade.
LaMura was the type of athlete that most dream of becoming. Had he made it a priority, he could’ve easily been a college basketball player. On the gridiron, he never came off the field – he was the QB, free safety, punter and kick returner. He opted to pursue baseball instead.
It was a wise choice, and an easy one when Connetquot was at the peak of their powers.
In his youth, he played for Connetquot Youth Association, winning the PAL Championship when he was 12-years-old. He recalled “we were always one of the stronger teams.”
In the summer of 9th and 10th grade, he played for the PAL National Team before moving onto play for the LI Tigers. They were a true juggernaut – as his team had 5 draft picks.
- Chris Smith
- Dominick Ambrosini
- Tom Merkle
- Tony Raffio
- Bryan Goelz
- BJ LaMura
That team was extremely successful, as you would image. They played in the NABF World Series in Indianapolis, losing in the semifinals to the East Cobb Astros.
But circling back to Connetquot, they had won the New York State Class A Championship in 1995 when LaMura was in 8th grade so he was not on the team. They did have a formidable squad, though. They had both Ambrosini brothers (Anthony and Dominick) who would go on to play pro ball. Dominick won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 1999. They had Tim Lorito, who went to the University of Delaware and Hofstra and was drafted by the Detroit Tigers. They also had Mike Lorento (Manhattan College), Ron Guerreri (NYIT), Randy Rapp (CW Post, drafted by the Oakland A’s), Jesse Torborg (drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks) and Scott King (Siena College and 2002 Carl Yastrzemski Award winner).
Just an insane amount of talent on one team. They won the league twice during LaMura’s four-year varsity career but were unable to get past some other great teams in the playoffs.
The closest call was in 1997 when they reached the County Championship but lost to Commack. They would lose to Paul Gibson Award winner, Jason Gouge, of East Islip in 1999. In a single-elimination format, there was no second chances.
LaMura finished his decorated career a 3-time All-County pitcher and the recipient of the 1998 Paul Gibson Award.
He recalled his college recruiting process as being “stressful.” The interest mainly stemmed from his time at the Area Code Games in Long Beach, CA. He recalled virtually every school being in attendance.
Once July 1 came, the calls, letters and e-mails came rapidly – and they were from all parts of the country.
His first visit was with St. John’s University with Ed Blankmeyer. Ultimately, he narrowed his choices to Arizona State, UNC and Clemson.
“I decided to go with Clemson, because I felt like it was a better fit. They had familiarity with Long Island guys because Billy Koch had just been there and pitched them to the College World Series. I fell in love with the school. They were just recruiting me as a pitcher, some other big name schools were going to give me a chance to be a 2-way guy but I wanted to compete for a CWS and they gave me a chance.”
At that time, LaMura recalls his fastball being in the low 90s. In those days, that was extremely rare for a high school pitcher. There was some talk of him getting drafted in the top 5 rounds, but “most teams knew that I wanted to go to college and it would’ve had to have been a lot of money. Most teams knew I wouldn’t have signed. But there was a lot of questionnaires and a lot of scouts behind home plate.”
LaMura looked back on his time at Connetquot very fondly playing for the legendary Bob Ambrosini, who retired with more than 600 career wins.
“He had built a juggernaut of a program. Maybe we haven’t won as many State Titles as the talent would suggest, but we were always at the top of the league regardless of which one we were in. I remember his preparation – we worked hard. Practices were hard, they were not cookie-cutter. We took reps upon reps on defense and we were held accountable. He had a standard that was set. There was a tradition that was set and he made sure we were aware of the tradition. Not only to live up to it, but to pass it down to the younger guys.”
One would think there was a strange dynamic when the head coaches sons were both on the varsity team, but LaMura made it clear that it was never an issue.
“Ambro’s kids were extremely hard workers. It was never a distraction. Plus they were very talented so it was pretty clear that they deserved everything they got.”
Clemson University
After a brief stint playing with the LI Tigers in the summer of ’99, it was off to Clemson to start his collegiate career in the first week of August. He was the only Long Island kid on the team, but Anthony Urrico was from Staten Island, so he had one other fellow New Yorker.
After starting the season of 19-3, Clemson was the No. 1 team in the nation. They would host the Super Regional in 2000, knocking off Mississippi State to punch their ticket to Omaha.
While he only pitched 8 innings during his freshman year, he was fortunate enough to make the College World Series where he threw a 4-pitch inning in his outing.
They wound up winning their first game against San Jose State before losing to top-ranked Stanford and Louisiana-Lafayette. They would finish 51-18, ranked No. 7 in the nation.
“Coming from the northeast and being a multi-sport athlete, we are just behind – not physically but in terms of baseball maturity,” said LaMura.
In terms of the atmosphere at Omaha, he said, “It was extremely electric. I was very surprised how well the fanbases traveled considering the distance and it’s not an easy place to get to. I remember everyone being super friendly – just very welcoming and very helpful.”
That summer LaMura went to the Cape Cod for his first of two stints in the prestigious collegiate league. He played for the Falmouth Commodores, and had a great experience.
“I loved the Cape. I had an amazing host family and coaching staff,” he said.
In this sophomore season, Clemson would face Miami in the Coral Gables Super Regional. They would lose to them, 10-8 and 14-6, to get eliminated. Miami would go on to win the 2001 College World Series. Clemson finished 41-22 and ranked No. 13 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. LaMura pitched in 16 games that season in relief with 26 strikeouts.
Clemson gate out of the gate like wildfire in 2002, rattling off 26 of 27 to start the season – including three against rival South Carolina. They would jump up to No. 1 in the nation in all 3 national polls.
They were led by SS Khalil Greene who had a 34-game hitting streak and would go on to win the Golden Spikes Award, get drafted in the 1st round by the San Diego Padres and have a 7-year Major League career.
Clemson swept the Regionals but lost their opening game of the Super Regionals against Arkansas – putting their backs against the wall. They were able to win the next two games, and LaMura pitched 4.1 innings of relief to slam the door and punch their ticket back to Omaha. In the CWS, they won their first 2 games putting themselves in the driver’s seat but lost two close games to South Carolina – who they had beaten 3 of 4 during the regular season.
LaMura had his best collegiate season – pitching 58.1 innings over 18 games with 9 starts.
“I pitched in a multitude of roles – starter, closer and fireman when things were getting tight in a big spot. I was sort of a Swiss army knife.”
LaMura was drafted in the 5th round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. The draft had occurred prior to the College World Series, but LaMura noted that wasn’t a concern during the season.
“You’re not worried about getting hurt because you’re so entrenched with your guys and the team. You’re selfless because you’re trying to accomplish something that you’ve been try to. The coaches never abused us. If something happened, it would’ve been a freak injury that couldn’t have been avoided.”
That Clemson coaching staff was star-studded. Jack Leggett won 1,322 games in his career and was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2014. Their pitching coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, is heading into his 18th season as Head Coach of the University of Florida – where he won the 2017 College World Series. Tim Corbin was the Recruiting Coordinator and he has won two National Championships (2014, 2019) as Head Coach of Vanderbilt University where he has been since 2003. Erik Bakich was a volunteer assistant and is now entering his third season as Head Coach of Clemson and is coming back back-to-back 44-win seasons.
Pro Ball
B.J. LaMura, 2005, with the Birmingham Barons.
After getting drafted, LaMura was sent to Bristol, TN to begin his professional career with the Chicago White Sox in the Appalachian League. He was fortunate to begin his career off with a championship that first year.
The best year of his pro ball career came in 2006 when he was in Double-A. He was named an All-Star and compiled a 1.69 ERA through 53.1 innings with 69 strikeouts and only 32 hits allowed He was traded to Los Angeles straight up for big leaguer Sandy Alomar Jr.
LaMura noted that it was the closest he came to reaching the big leagues.
“I was putting together my best season, I had a one-something ERA, I was getting strikeouts and not giving up hard contact. Once I got to the Dodgers, it was a higher hill to climb because of the names.”
He was jostled between starting and relieving and he noted it was much tougher to get into a rhythm. He pitched to a 1.96 ERA the rest of the season with Double-A Jacksonville.
Those Dodger teams were loaded – he was now in a system with some future MLB All-Stars. His roommate was future Hall of Famer, Clayton Kershaw.
“He was such a young kid and I’d been around for a while,” he said. “He was the 7th overall pick. He was an awesome person, his stuff was electric. He was low-to-mid 90s with that hammer breaking ball. It was just different watching him.”
They also had Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Matt Kemp, AJ Ellis, Delwyn Young and Blake DeWitt, to name a few.
LaMura stated that the most electric pitcher he watched in the minors was future White Sox closer Bobby Jenks. He said they didn’t have bullpen catchers so he was forced to catch him warming up for games sometimes.
“His curveball was harder than most guy’s fastballs at that time. And he was throwing 100.”
With the Dodgers, LaMura would eventually move up to Triple-A, however, their affiliate at that time was Las Vegas. Aside from the altitude, the hard infield surface made it almost impossible for pitchers to put up good numbers. After pitching to a 2.93 ERA in Double-A, the ERA inflated to 7.92 in Vegas.
“It’s just a bad place to pitch. You make a mistake and it goes 900 feet. You make a good pitch and guys are getting hits. You get a ground ball and it’s going through the rock hard infield.”
In the winter of 2008, LaMura went to pitch in the Venezuelan Winter League.
“It was eye-opening to see another culture up close. I lived in a hotel and had to walk places at times. Sometimes you take for granted just how good we have it here. We had armed guards take us to-and-from games.”
2008 was very similar as 2007 as he split time between Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A Las Vegas with similar results.
His next exciting opportunity came in the spring of 2009 when he was asked to represent Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. The team was coached by Mike Piazza and had recognizable names such as Frank Catalanotto, Nick Punto, Mike DiFelice, Jason Grilli and Chris Denorfia. They beat Canada in pool play but lost to Venezuela twice. The tournament was held in Toronto.
He called it a “really fun experience”, but they did have a tough draw being placed in the same pool as USA and Venezuela.
Following the WBC, he had offers to play with the Dodgers and Padres on Triple-A contracts, but life had changed. He and his wife welcomed their first child in April and he wanted to at least be on the east coast in order to spend time with family. He opted to play for the LI Ducks for the 2009 season. They were managed by Hall of Famer Gary Carter and he played with big leaguers Preston Wilson and Lew Ford along with fellow Long Islander Joe Valentine.
He was able to get back into affiliated ball after getting signed by the Toronto Blue Jays for the 2010 season. He pitched in Dunedin, FL (High-A), New Hampshire (Double-A) and Las Vegas (Triple-A), as Toronto had swapped their Triple-A affiliates with the Dodgers.
“I just couldn’t get away from Vegas,” he said jokingly.
Both 2010 and 2011 consisted of splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A for LaMura. At that point, he was ready to call it a career.In total, he pitched 758 innings in the minors spanning 9 seasons.
The Next Chapter
Debating what his next move would be, LaMura considered getting into college coaching. After all, three of his assistant coaches at Clemson had their own program and had mentioned that they would help him out if he was interested. With two kids, he knew that would be a tough lifestyle.
LaMura spoke with his friend, John Searles, who also was a Long Island-native (Huntington) that was a minor leaguer. He had told him about a boutique brokerage firm that was owned by Mike Belfiore Sr. that he was working at.
LaMura started as a paid intern to see if he enjoyed it and he did. He has been in that industry ever since. The original firm was bought out, but he has since moved to Stifel, which is based out of St. Louis but has a Hauppauge location. LaMura is entering his 13th year at the firm.
He now has 4 children – three boys and one girl. His oldest son, is entering his sophomore year at Connetquot HS and plays baseball and football. He plays travel ball for MVP Baseball. He coaches his 13-year-old son, alongside George Loft, on Yeti Baseball. His 8-year-old plays soccer and baseball and his daughter enjoys figure skating, soccer and lacrosse.
While he no longer gives private lessons, he does help out with the high school camps when he can.
“I love staying involved, but I don’t want to be a head coach and all that comes with that. I do like helping kids develop and finding their perspective.”
LaMura will go down as one of the best pitchers to ever come from Long Island, and will forever be synonymous with the winning tradition of Connetquot baseball.
