‼️ Andrew Amarando comes through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 8th to send Connetquot to the Suffolk AAA Finals against Sachem North ! ‼️ pic.twitter.com/PDbUi3eFqt
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2025
Back-to-back years Connetquot has been the grim reaper to Smithtown East. Both wins came via walk-off. Both in the 8th inning. Both against the same starting pitcher.
If that seems cruel, it’s because it certainly is. Connetquot (21-4), one of the powerhouse baseball programs on Long Island, is headed to the Suffolk Class AAA Finals after a thrilling 2-1 victory on Wednesday against No. 3 Smithtown East (20-5). They’ll face No. 4 Sachem North (19-5) on Saturday at Middle Country Athletic Complex.
The pitching match up of DJ Filippone and Sean Fanning certainly did not disappoint. Filippone, one of the top uncommitted pitchers on Long Island, has the perfect combination of stuff and a calm demeanor to keep his cool in a pressure environment. Fanning, the League III MVP, entered the game with an unblemished record of 10-0 and was pitching on 3 days rest after throwing 111 pitches on Saturday against Longwood. Filippone entered with a record of 5-2.
The Thunderbirds took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Dylan Cerone got things going with a triple to right field and he scored on an RBI single by Brandon Bartick to center field. Fanning avoided further damage with a pop out of the next batter.
Smithtown East had a scoring opportunity in the top of the third inning when the leadoff batter walked and Michael DeRosa singles to center with nobody out. The next batter, Angelo Ciminiello, popped out to short for the first out but they were able to tie the game on a sac fly to right field by Nick Fiorentino. Evan Schickler struck out to end the inning.
Connetquot RHP DJ Filippone went all 8 innings, allowing just one run on 3 hits with 5 Ks as the top-seeded Thunderbirds won a thriller, 2-1, to advance to the Suffolk AAA Finals against No. 4 Sachem North on Saturday pic.twitter.com/nur3Kvbj2A
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2025
Aaron Pace singled to lead off the bottom of the third inning, but Fanning was able to avoid any damage as he induced a fly out to center field, a strikeout and a ground out to second base.
Both pitchers settled into a rhythm, trading zeros in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Smithtown East had a golden opportunity in the top of the seventh when leadoff batter Andrew Carbonara reached on an error by the shortstop. The following batter, Bobby Eck, dropped down a perfect bunt down the third base line and reached base safely. Nick Porrello was asked to sacrifice but popped it up to Filippone for the first out of the inning. After a pickoff, Nick Piccoli struck out looking for the third out of the inning.
Fanning was able to fire a 1-2-3 inning in the home half of the seventh to send the game to extras.
In the eighth, Filippone worked around a two-out error by Adamo, striking out Evan Schickler to end the inning on his 115th pitch of the day.
Going back out for the 8th, Fanning walked the leadoff batter, Santino Capozzola, to give the Thunderbirds life. Aaron Pace flew out to center field and Jagger Adamo was robbed of a hit by second baseman Michael DeRosa, who made a great play to his right on a rocket line drive. With two outs, Capozzola, stole second, much to the chagrin of Smithtown East, who contested that he came off the base after sliding in. Amarando stepped up and came through with the clutch two-out single up the middle to send the hometown fans into a state of euphoria.
Fanning was tagged with the tough luck loss. He went 7.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk with six strikeouts. He finishes the season 10-1 and 13-2 over the last two years.
It was Connetquot’s sixth walk-off win of the season, and their third win in as many days. They will have a couple days to recuperate before Saturday’s County Finals against League II rival Sachem North (19-5). They will likely face CSI-commit Ryan Palm – who followed up last year’s 8-0 season with a 7-1 record this year.
Sachem North will need to win once to capture their first County Championship since 2011. Connetquot will need to win twice to capture their first since 2019.
*Despite a difficult game for Adamo, the League II MVP batted .409 with a robust 1.259 OPS, 7 doubles, three triples, 2 HRs, 17 RBIs, 26 runs and 17 SBs.
