Matt Salmon
Commack Aims for an Unprecedented 5-Peat
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Vin Messana March 12, 2020 was five years ago today. It was the day most people remember when looking back on the craziness of the pandemic – citing things like the NCAA cancelling the men’s basketball tournament and professional sports being halted. There was no high school baseball season that year, but the Town of Brookhaven did host a Wood Bat tournament which featured almost all of the schools in the county. The winner of that was Commack, led by the late Bryan Bonin. Commack captures the Town of Brookhaven Varsity Wood Bat Championship with a 2-0 victory over Lindenhurst Drew Vincent fired a complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts. Commack went 6-0 in the tournament pic.twitter.co...
How Do They Do It: Commack
(Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a 6-part series in which we highlight the top baseball towns on Long Island. Previously, we featured Massapequa, Bayport-Blue Point and Shoreham-Wading River. You can view them all by clicking here.) by Patrick Duryea Commack captures their 4th consecutive Suffolk County Championship behind a complete game gem by Evan Kay against Sachem North 
pic.twitter.com/ElDOlV4Qlz — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 26, 2024 There is no shock factor in seeing “Commack” written in as champions of Suffolk County or Long Island as a whole. Every year, great teams emerge all over the Island. The stars align, and a program will have a stacked group of seniors all playing at the next level with some young talents mixed in, and they’ll have a season ...
Sam Kay and Luke Krzemienski Ready to Embrace the Expectations of Their Last Names
Prior to each game, Sam Kay and Luke Krzemienski have a catch. Being superstitious like most baseball players, they have to finish it in a particular way. They throw the ball back-and-forth three times with the final catch having to be behind-the-back. Kay and Krzemienski are both sophomores on Commack’s varsity baseball team that were called up as freshmen. In addition to the challenge of playing against kids three years older than you, they both share the burden of living up to the expectations that their older siblings have set playing for the Cougars. Sam’s older brother, Evan, just finished up one of the best careers we have seen in Suffolk County history and especially for Commack’s program. He owns the Long Island record for consecutive scoreless innings at 60, he ...
Evan Kay Strikes out 11, Leads Commack to Third Long Island Championship in 4 Years
by Jacob Infald (Photo: Adam Rubin/Commack School District) Kay does it again! 11 strikeouts on the day including striking out the side in the 7th. pic.twitter.com/HM7EGjJlrC — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 2, 2024 For the third time in four seasons and for the second consecutive one, the Commack Cougars are the Class AAA Long Island baseball champions. On the evening of June 1st at Middle Country Athletic Complex, the Cougars were once again led by their ace, Stony Brook-commit Evan Kay and they defeated the Farmingdale Dalers, 2-1. Kay was dominant out on the mound allowing only one unearned one in a seven inning complete game shutout. He struckout 11 batters and walked none. Kay attacked Dale hitters early in the count with a sharp slider, a nasty changeup and a powerful fa...
Commack Enters 2024 Atop the Mountain
Final: Commack 9, Shenendehowa 0 WP: Evan Kay (CG shutout, 2 hits) Commack will play Ketchum in the Class AA State Finals on Saturday pic.twitter.com/cWRiSEdV0H — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 10, 2023 Commack was as close as possible to winning their first State Championship in program history. They fired a no-hitter in the Class AA Finals against Ketchum but lost, 2-1. They finished with a record of 25-3. While that loss certainly stung, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that they continued their reign as the top baseball program in Suffolk County – they have captured back-to-back-to-back Suffolk Class AA Championships and they defeated Massapequa, 7-0, in a rare anticlimactic Long Island Championship at St. Joseph’s University. Coach Matt Salmon followin...
Commack Continues to Establish Itself as Premier Program in Suffolk County
Bottom 4: A grand slam by Justin Crispino and Commack opens up a 7-3 lead pic.twitter.com/Rpr7jcYEui — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2022 Commack took the field in 2022 with heavy hearts following the tragic passing of their beloved coach Bryan Bonin. He was a winner on the field and a truly respected man in the community and a loving father, husband, son and brother. The Commack community rallied behind him and honored him in the best way they knew how – continue to win. The Cougars went 17-1 in the regular season, capturing the League Championship and they continued to win as they went 7-1 during the Suffolk County playoffs, capturing their third County Championship since 2017. They had their season end in the Long Island Championship against their new rival, Massape...
Tom Ribaudo’s Three-Run Blast Propels Ward Melville to 4-2 Win
Ward Melville catcher Tom Ribaudo following his late game heroics in the 4-2 victory over Commack pic.twitter.com/JGicHCGMmL — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 5, 2022 When Commack and Ward Melville square off, there is guaranteed to be some sort of dramatic finish. We’ve seen it time-and-time again, most notably that 2019 semifinals matchup at Ward Melville. This game did not feature nearly as much offense or ejections, but there was an exciting finish with an exclamation point from the captain. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning against reliever Matt Mayer, Ward Melville captain Tom Ribaudo stepped to the plate after a 4-6-3 double play briefly took some of the life out of the home faithful. A walk drawn by Rob Looney flipped the lineup and brought up Ribaudo....
Commack Takes the Field With Heavy Hearts in 2022
Commack captures the Conference I Long Island Championship with a 3-1 victory over Massapequa ! pic.twitter.com/QCz1prESnG — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 21, 2021 Commack will take the field with heavy hearts in 2022 following the passing of their Head Coach Bryan Bonin in January. Bonin was an incredible person and coach – who led the Cougars to the County Championship during his first year in 2017 and also their first Long Island Championship in program history in 2021. Incumbent coach, Matt Salmon, had the following to say: “Since Bryan passed away, I’ve been in constant contact with the guys. The kids really loved him. It’s almost taken on a natural feel the way Bryan would’ve wanted it. Everybody is locked in on baseball. During tryouts, from...
