For the first time since 2019, Connetquot captures the Suffolk County Championship! 🏆 They will face Massapequa next Saturday at 7pm for the Long Island Championship pic.twitter.com/dOrZyukw8q
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2025
Five straight wins in elimination games. All in the same week. As far as paths to winning a County Championship, this came on Expert Mode.
The Connetquot Thunderbirds (23-4), who lost to Sachem North (19-7) last Saturday, rattled off wins against Pat-Med, Longwood and Smithtown East to reach the Suffolk Class AAA Finals, in a rematch against the Arrows. The T-Birds won 7-0 on Saturday night behind a 2-hit shutout by Dylan Wilkinson to force a winner-take-all game on Sunday at Middle Country Park.
With the bases loaded, clinging to a 3-1 lead they called on junior RHP DJ Filippone, who fired an 8-inning complete game on Wednesday. In front of a raucous crowd, Filippone walked in a run as the Sachem North faithful were frantically seeking one more run. In stepped in Travis Szober, who worked the count to 3-1. Filippone fired a strike to make it a full count. With the ensuing pitch, Szober hit a Baltimore chop off the plate and in that moment, the race was on. Szober put his head down and sprinted to beat the throw to first. After initially bobbling the ball, Filippone recovered and calmly threw to Michael Empaynado just in time.
With that, bedlam ensued.
The Connetquot dugout emptied and sprinted to the mound to dogpile. The culmination of a week with their backs firmly against the wall.
“I feel over the moon right now,” said head coach Rob Burger. “We had a tough bracket, we had a loss to these guys {Sachem North}, I think it was the second round. It was tough for us, we had to make a decision on what we wanted to do. We wanted to be the team to come out of the bottom bracket – we don’t call it the loser’s bracket. We did everything to play for this moment. I’m so proud of these guys, we’ve played so much baseball in the last week and a half. We should be tired, but they found ways. Our community is amazing – we had an unbelievable sendoff by the fire department the last two days. 7th Street was lined with fans. It was something special. Connetquot baseball community is like no other.”
Connetquot’s starting pitcher, sophomore Justin Hendrickson, was outstanding. He pitched 6.1 innings, striking out 8 batters and was in control for much of the game. He allowed a run in the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Jack Pitman. After that, he was virtually spotless.
His offense tied the game in the bottom of the second on an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Aaron Pace, who was the hero in Saturday night’s game with 4 RBIs.
They took the lead in the bottom of the third on a two-run single by Dylan Cerone which scored Andrew Amarando and Matt Lineman.
Sachem North went to the bullpen, bringing in Jacob Tonnies in the third inning. He was terrific, firing four scoreless innings, scattering five hits and walking none with one strikeout.
Things were bleak for the Arrows until their seventh inning rally, they showed tremendous resolve getting the tying run to third base. It was a great season for the Arrows, who have came within one win of snapping their title drought back-to-back years. They will certainly be motivated in 2026.
Up next is the Class AAA Long Island Championship next Saturday at Farmingdale State College. It will be a rematch of 2019 LIC. Massapequa (18-8) won in comeback fashion, erasing an early 5-0 lead.
If that was any indication how this one will go, get your popcorn ready.
