Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by George Caratzas
Coming off a regular season that saw the East Islip Redmen go 13-5 in league play, before eventually losing in the playoffs, head coach Sal Ciampi Jr. has much of his dominant pitching core returning for 2025.
In 2024, the Redmen were carried by their pitching staff, having five pitchers with earned run averages under three. Of their five regular-season losses, four of them were by one run or were games that were decided in the final at bat. This year, all five of East Islip’s big arms are back as they look to claim a championship.
“It was disappointing from the standpoint of it ending where it ended,” Ciampi said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “But, we set ourselves up to be in pretty good shape this year. Whenever you have enough talent to compete for a championship and you don’t, you find that disappointing but by season’s end, you’re talking about winning 16 or 17 total games.”
Leading the team both on the mound and at the plate is senior outfielder and pitcher Thomas Costarelli. Costarelli bats and throws left-handed and is committed to play at the Division-I level at Eastern Tennessee State next year.
Thomas Costarelli (East Islip 2025) with a pair of K’s to get out of a jam for the Islip Owls. pic.twitter.com/IzbDdXjdlm
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 22, 2023
Last year, Costarelli further solidified himself as Ciampi’s ace, going 4-1 while pitching to a 1.44 ERA. Along the way, he struck out 65 batters in 44 innings. He fired a no-hitter against West Islip with 12 Ks on May 14.
“Everyone talks about who they think is the best but I would not trade him for anybody,” Ciampi said. “He’s as good as it gets. He’s been a three-year starter on varsity and then by the end of last year, he had just gone to a completely different level on the mound.”
After him, the drop off is pretty small as Ciampi has Albany-commit Jaden Schmidt filling the second spot in the rotation. Schmidt — who also profiles as the Redmen’s starting first baseman — pitched to a 1.25 ERA in 28 innings last season. He went 3-0 while also picking up a save and struck out 30 batters.
Hard throwing junior RHP Jaden Schmidt gets the start for East Islip (3-0) pic.twitter.com/OlhjNI0Igs
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 8, 2024
“Jaden has great command, very good three-pitch mix, but the best part about him is that he is like a bulldog, as tough as they come,” Ciampi said. “He is the guy that you are not afraid to put on the mound in any situation.”
Schmidt dealt with on-and-off injuries in 2024, but pitched 5 ⅓ innings in a playoff game with a pulled hamstring.
Lucas Patton is another option for East Islip as the junior compiled a sophomore campaign that was on par with the two above him in the rotation. In 41 innings, Patton held an 0.68 ERA while striking out 41 hitters and going 5-1.
Lucas Patton on the bump for East Islip pic.twitter.com/OU2lef5lXf
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2024
After those three, Ciampi has two candidates that can both start games and come out of relief. First, senior John Talt — a Dickinson College commit — will be a weapon for the Redmen on the mound and in center field. Talt went 2-1 last year, picking up a save and pitching to a 2.69 ERA in 12 innings. Additionally, junior Mike Tramaglini went 3-0 with a 2.99 ERA, striking out 18 batters in 18 innings. Tramaglini is also the shoe-in to start at third base.
With such a strong pitching staff, the onus will be on East Islip’s offense to hold up their end of the bargain.
“Health issues definitely hurt us offensively last year,” Ciampi said. “We had kids go down and then we could never get going offensively because of some of those injuries. It forced us to move people around in the lineup and get creative with our hitting.”
In the outfield, Costarelli, Patton and Alex Ciampi are the three best options for the Redmen, with Talt filling in when Costarelli toes the rubber.
Costarelli hit .383 last season, driving in 15 runs while also scoring 15 times. Going into this season, he figures to be one of Coach Ciampi’s biggest run producers in the middle of the order. Patton will likely start in right field, after hitting .292 with 12 runs batted in last year. Finally, Ciampi dealt with a broken hand, an injury which he played through for the duration of the season. Nonetheless, he reached base at a .420 clip and hit .302.
“He was supposed to be our leadoff hitter,” Sal Ciampi said. “The day before our first game, he dove for a ball in practice and broke his hand. After two weeks, he cut the cast off and played the entire season with a broken bone in his hand. I give him a ton of credit for playing through it for six weeks, but he went back to the doctor after the season and the bone was still fractured.”
Now fully healthy, Ciampi should be a spark plug at the top of his father’s batting order.
On the infield, Tramaglini profiles as the everyday man at the hot corner, when he is not pitching of course. Ciampi will rely on his and Costarelli to provide most of the run production, as Tramaglini hit .309 as a sophomore with 10 RBI.
At short will be senior Chris LaMacchia, who played second for East Islip last year. As the nine-hole hitter last year, LaMacchia hit .248 with six RBIs and eight runs scored.
“Chris will be our starting shortstop this year,” Ciampi said. “He previously played second base for us and his defense is something that really makes me excited.”
As for first base, Schmidt and Talt will platoon at the position, depending on pitching scenarios and other defensive alignments.
Finally, Ciampi has junior Matt Pasfield slated as the starting catcher. Pasfield spent last year on the junior varsity squad, but practiced as a varsity player with Ciampi knowing that 2025 would be the year he takes the reins being the dish.
Stats aside, Ciampi sees an intangible aspect of the 2025 iteration of his club, that he believes will benefit them in the long term.
“This is a really great group of kids,” Ciampi said. “These are guys that have been playing with each other for a long time and are all for the most part friends. It’s easy as a coach when you don’t need to deal with the off-the-field nonsense that goes on a lot in high school baseball.”
For the Redmen, the expectation is excellence.
“As long as they perform up to their abilities, we should win a lot,” Ciampi said. “I know those guys are going to be very disappointed if we don’t win the whole thing. That is the expectation.”
East Islip will start its season on Monday, March 31 as it welcomes Bellport for the season-opener.
