Back in 2021, East Islip captured the Conference IV Long Island Championship with a convincing 14-2 win over the Nassau Champions, Bethpage, at Mitchel Field.
While the Long Island baseball community saw that up close, there was another dominant team that quietly dominated on the same field. It was East Islip’s JV team who posted an undefeated record (18-0).
The bulk of that team was comprise of not 10th graders, or even 9th graders, but 8th grader. In fact, had the 2020 season not been cancelled, they would’ve been called up as 7th graders.
That core group of players, Thomas Costarelli, Alex Ciampi, Chris LaMacchia, Jaden Schmidt, Billy Mahoney and John Talt, are now anchoring the latest iteration of East Islip varsity baseball. They enter Monday’s Suffolk AA playoff match up with a record of 20-2. The only reason they’ll be on the road is because their opponent, No. 1 Eastport-South Manor is one of two teams on Long Island with an undefeated record (22-0).
East Islip is a blue-collar town with a gritty mentality which is exemplified by head coach Sal Ciampi Jr, who is also the head coach of the football team. Seven of the members of the baseball team are also on the football team – which captured the 2023 Long Island Championship over South Side. This past season, they lost to Hills East in the Suffolk County Championship.
East Islip LHP Thomas Costarelli fires a no-hitter with 9 Ks and 0 BBs against Bellport. Only batters to reach base were via error. He also went 2-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs. pic.twitter.com/tXT8rafmiu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 31, 2025
The team’s QB, Thomas Costarelli, was just named League IV MVP and is a finalist for the coveted Carl Yastrzemski Award. His statistics this season are off-the-charts dominant. He is 7-0 with a 0.25 ERA, 0.58 WHIP, 20 hits allowed and 84 Ks over 56 innings. Him and fellow southpaw, Lucas Patton, along with Jaden Schmidt have combined to form the most formidable pitching staff on Long Island with a cumulative ERA of 0.92. They have notched 9 shutouts in 22 games, and also allowed exactly one run on 9 occasions. In the other four games, they allowed 3, 3, 5 and 9 runs.
Just an incredible level of dominance in which we have not seen on Long Island in decades.
Costarelli will have a chance to pitch them into the Suffolk County Finals on Monday. It’s been a goal of theirs since stepping on the varsity field.
“It’s been everything you can dream of,” said Costarelli. The last two years, we’ve been scratching the surface. The teams we lost to both went to States – West Babylon and Hauppauge.”
Costarelli noted that the team has been locked in since the football season.
“We started captain practices about two weeks after football ended. We had those twice per week. We wanted this really badly.”
Costarelli spoke of the impact that Coach Ciampi has had on the players.
“Without him I don’t know where we’d be. He changes who you are as soon as you meet him. As the years go on, everyone has been mentally maturing. There’s no messing around at practice – everyone is locked in.”
From an individual standpoint, Costarelli has been garnering college interest for years. Much of that had to do with the connections of his pitching coach, Neal Heaton, who has been working with him since he was in 7th grade.
“I’ve seen major improvements from him,” said Heaton. “Each year he just gets better and better. We’ve been waiting for that growth spurt, which he hasn’t had. Everyone on his mother’s side is over 6’5 but he has more of his dad’s side.”
His father also attended East Islip HS. As a sophomore, the Redmen won the Long Island Championship, although he wasn’t pulled up to varsity that season. His siblings are all athletes as well – his younger brother plays football, his older sister played lacrosse and was a cheerleader while his younger sister currently plays lacrosse, soccer and is a cheerleader.
“If he was 6’5, forget it, he’d be a first rounder. He needs to go to college, get a little more velo, and he’ll be really good and by then he’ll be ready,” said Heaton.
Heaton is in the University of Miami Hall of Fame and is still connected with the coaching staff. The recruiting coordinator had Costarelli on his radar from his freshman year. Once he took a job at UCF, Costarelli was offered a scholarship.
While he had initially committed there, he has since switched his commitment to East Tennessee State University, which he feels is a better fit for him due to the coaching staff, the school and he will be playing with fellow Long Island native Cody Miller – who just notched his 200th career hit this weekend.
“Cody texted me this week and just sent me an Eagle emoji,” said Costarelli prior to his matchup last week against the Rocky Point Eagles. Costarelli struck out 10 over 9 shutout innings in a 1-0 win for East Islip.
His velocity this season has been consistently in the upper 80s, and he noted he touched 90 MPH six or seven times in his third outing of the season. While he always had the pitchabiliy, his fastball velocity increased from 80 to 86 going into his 11th grade season which made a huge difference in generating strikeouts.
At the plate, he’s been no slouch either. He’s leading the team in average (.400) and OPS (1.103) and is second in RBIs (17) behind Mike Tramaglini (21).
“I’ve always took pride in hitting,” said Costarelli. “I was gifted with being a good athlete. A lot of pitchers can’t move well. It helps me on the mound as well – when teams try to bunt on me I’m right there, right away.”
(16U) Thomas Costarelli looking good early on for the Owls in their Championship matchup against LI Strong pic.twitter.com/UWC4tgfq5v
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 23, 2023
Most of East Islip’s players have been playing together for years – which is a big advantage over many teams. They have a level of chemistry that you can’t teach. Their local town team, the Islip Owls, was a powerhouse, often beating elite travel teams in major events.
“Those were my best friends growing up. We played nationally ranked teams, we were coached by dads and we would beat them in PG events and Axcess events and destroyed everyone.”
They will look to keep the solid play going for another couple weeks as they are on the verge of something special. If they are able to hand ESM their first loss of the season, they’ll have the rest of the week to prepare for the Suffolk County Class AA Finals on Saturday at Middle County Complex.
Get To Know Thomas:
Favorite Athletes: Ezequiel Elliot and Saquon Barkley (football), Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira (baseball)
Favorite App: Snapchat
Favorite Movie: The Meg
Favorite Musical Artist: BigXthePlug
Favorite Genre of Music: Country
