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Who Are the Top 1-2 Punches on Long Island?

The saying goes ‘momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher’.

For some Long Island schools, tomorrow’s starting pitcher is another stud. Here’s 6 of the best dynamic duos on the island.

Kings Park 

Everett Zarzicki and Dylan Frers. Both were on varsity as freshman during their Long Island Championship winning team in 2024. Unfortunately for Kings Park’s opponents, they still had 3 full years to deal with them. Zarzicki is committed to UCONN while Frers is committed to Rutgers. Both are bulldogs on the mound. Both throw in the high 80s, low 90s already and they will pitch two out of every three games for the Kingsmen. Zarzicki struck out 55 batters over 54.1 innings with a 1.29 ERA. Frers went 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA over 40 innings.

Garden City

Everything came together for Garden City at the perfect time last season as the Trojans played their best ball when it mattered. They rattled off 8 straight victories in the postseason en route to defeating East Islip in the Class AA Long Island Championship at Farmingdale State College. The top of their rotation will consist of Joe Carey and Chris Desiderio, two southpaws who are their 1 and 1A. Carey, committed to Holy Cross, went 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA and 73 strikeouts over 58 innings. Desiderio went 8-1 with a 1.64 ERA. They both gained valuable postseason experience and they could use either in a must-win game and feel confident.

St. Anthony’s 

The Friars have some of the most high-profile players on Long Island in Luke Coats and CJ Alfano, who are both headed to West Virginia in the fall, but it’s their other Division-I commit that is the reason why they made this list. Jacob Vaccariello, a senior SS and RHP, will form a formidable 1-2 punch with Coats – who compiled a 2.28 ERA over 43 innings with 50 Ks. Vaccariello pitched 20.1 innings with a 1.72 ERA and 30 Ks.

Even in this era of high velocity, they stand above the rest. Coach Paul Parsolano had mentioned in our season preview that they considered using Vaccariello as a closer, but ultimately chose against it as his impact on the team is highest as a stopper. Him and Coats both sit in the upper 80s, low 90s and have topped around 93 MPH. In the wood bat Catholic League and cold northeast temperature in late March, and early April, that could spell lots of broken bats.

Kellenberg

The reigning Catholic League Champs were able to outlast Chaminade in a terrific best-of-three at Hofstra University on a walk-off single by sophomore Andrew Noe. The team flew under the radar for most of the season because they were shut out in their first two games, did not win the league and head coach Pat Miles acknowledged they’ve had teams in the past that featured more talent. But the 2025 team played cohesively as a team and it didn’t hurt that they had an elite pitching staff of Jack Durso, Eric Ressegger, Kevin Prosceo and Chris Parisi. Durso is currently a freshman at Miami and Ressegger is at Adelphi, but Prosceo and Parisi are back to headline the staff. Prosceo, who is committed to Iona, opened up their 2026 campaign in spectacular fashion; striking out 11 over 5 shutout innings. Parisi, committed to Queens, went 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA and kept the Firebirds in Game 3 of the Finals despite heavy traffic on the bases. Both have high octane fastballs and will keep the Firebirds in every game.

Chaminade

The Flyers need to be included in this piece, but it’s unclear – at least right now – who to define as their top two starters. In terms of returning players, Carlos Pereira certainly deserves to be acknowledged as he pitched extremely well last season and fired five innings of one-hit ball on Opening Day against St. John the Baptist. He has the stuff and the command to shut down any opponent. After him, they have a bevy of other talented returners – Andrew Caramico, Jack Pfeifer, Christos Dimitrakakis, and Nick Sweeney but maybe one of their talented underclassmen such as Christian Calabro ends up stepping up and being a capable starter. In any event, with this collection of pitchers they are worthy of inclusion on this list and they were my pick to win it all.

East Hampton

You are excused if you are not plugged in with baseball on the east end, but the Bonackers have absolutely thrusted themselves in the conversation of best teams in Suffolk County’s AA classification. They shocked many with their season opening sweep of Hauppauge last season and rode that momentum right into the County Finals against East Islip, where they eventually met their match against Thomas Costarelli. The Bonackers haven’t won a County Championship since 1995, but they are in the mix this season led by their dynamic duo of Finn O’Rourke and Trevor Meehan. O’Rourke, a St. Peter’s-commit, was really impressive during his bullpen last month that I watched. He’s mid-to-upper 80s and has tremendous mechanics. He will be tough to hit. Meehan put himself on the radar with back-to-back no-hitters last year. As a lefty, he’s the perfect complement to O’Rourke and they will put up some dominant numbers.