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Massapequa Earns Comeback Victory Over Garden City in Battle of Long Island Champions

by Trevor Dugan

Two reigning Long Island Champions faced off Saturday afternoon as the Garden City Trojans visited the Massapequa Chiefs. In their first game of the year, the reigning AAA champion Chiefs staged a thrilling comeback in windy conditions after trailing 3-0 through four innings, coming alive late against the Garden City bullpen and earning a 4-3 victory.

RHP Jack Corrigan got the start for Massapequa, but did not make it out of the first inning after four straight walks to begin the game, including a bases loaded walk to Garden City catcher Thomas Bacich, giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead before any outs were recorded. Corrigan was quickly replaced by Justin Graham, who surrendered one more run on an RBI groundout before escaping the first trailing 2-0.

After his RBI walk, Bacich went down with an injury while diving back to first base and was removed from the game. Christian Roddini entered in his place and rose to the occasion, finishing his day 2-2 with two doubles and an RBI.

Garden City SP Brendan Ohl had better luck in his half of the first inning, striking out his first batter faced and retiring the side in order to bring the Garden City bats back to the plate. Ohl was untouchable in his three innings of work, allowing no runs and just one hit while racking up five strikeouts. The Massapequa offense stayed dormant until Ohl was relieved to begin the fifth inning.

Massapequa’s bullpen did a great job of picking up their starter following his early exit, allowing just one run over the remainder of the game. Graham pitched a scoreless top of the second after putting out the first inning fire. Three others would log scoreless relief appearances for the Chiefs on Saturday. Chrisitan O’Hara, Sal Apap and Anthony Conza each logged one scoreless inning.

Garden City stretched their lead to 3-0 in the top of the third thanks to a pair of hits by a pair of Chrises. Chris Desiderio got on base with a single, and was driven home on a ground rule double by Christian Roddini. Massapequa reliever Michael LoFramento got out of the third without any further issue, and would pitch a scoreless top of the fourth.

The Chiefs got the breakthrough they were looking for in the fifth inning when John-Luca Antico replaced Ohl on the mound for Garden City, getting into trouble right away. The right hander walked two of the first three batters he faced, then surrendered a single to Ryan Moore to load the bases. Massapequa scored their first run on an RBI single by leadoff man John Neary, cutting the lead to 3-1, and the bases remained loaded with two outs for three hitter AJ Conza.

Down by two with a chance to put his team ahead, the lefty Conza roped a line drive into the left field gap, clearing the bases and spurring the home crowd into a frenzy. Thanks to the senior’s heroics,  Massapequa took a 4-3 lead into the sixth inning.

Conza, the GameChanger player of the game, spoke to Axcess after the game about his mindset heading into his pivotal at-bat.

“I was just trying to find grass,” Conza explained. “I knew the wind would play a big factor, so I was looking to drive it into left where the wind would carry it away from the outfielders, and it did.”

Following Conza’s big hit, Christian O’Hara pitched a scoreless top of the sixth for Massapequa, retiring the side in order with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout. The Chiefs loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but Garden City reliever Tyler Packman stranded all three runners on base to keep his team within a run heading into the final inning.

Conza entered to pitch for Massapequa in the top of the seventh and locked down the save, working around a walk to close out the Chiefs’ comeback. After the game ,the Queens College commit broke down how he approached his high leverage situation in such windy conditions.

“I was trying to work low so they couldn’t get the ball in the air,” Conza said. “If they got the ball in the air it was a fifty-fifty chance, so I was trying to work low and work in my offspeeds to keep them off-balance.”

Saturday’s non-league win over Garden City was Massapequa’s first non-exhibition game of 2026, moving their record to 1-0. Conza believes this is just the beginning for a Chiefs team coming off of a Long Island Championship.

“I see Massapequa back in states, and I see us winning the state title,” Conza told Axcess. “We have a very good group of guys, very deep, we just need to keep playing the way we’re playing.”

Massapequa will be back in action Monday April 6 at home against Planview-Old Bethpage JFK. Garden City will visit MacArthur on Tuesday April 7.