by Tucker Terranova
Carle Place wins Class B Nassau County Championship with a 1-0 victory over No. 1 Oyster Bay. It is their first Class B Title since 2003!
WP: Roman Sandonato complete game shutout with 6 Ks
Tommy Schoch 2-3, 1 RBI pic.twitter.com/L3wOyY6fbT
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2025
As Tommy Schoch took the mound for game one of the Nassau County Class B Championship Series this May, the trust behind him was obvious.
After years of his teammates watching him deliver, the confidence was earned. Schoch wasn’t just Carle Place’s ace—he was the conference’s best player. The junior turned in one of the most complete seasons in program history, posting a 1.40 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 35 innings while batting .333 with 20 RBIs and six stolen bases. The performance earned him league MVP honors.
This group had been building toward this moment for years. Schoch and his fellow juniors may go down as the most successful class Carle Place baseball has ever seen.
Carle Place isn’t typically known as a “baseball school.” Compared to larger neighboring districts, it produces fewer college players and brings home far less hardware.
Being overlooked seems to be part of Carle Place baseball’s identity.
This group learned that early. In 2020, as 12-year-olds, they played on the Carle Place Little League All-Star team in the District 29 Tournament—a stage that had rarely been kind to the town. Usually outmatched, Carle Place teams often bowed out early in the tournament.
But that summer, delayed by the pandemic, the Frogs flipped the script. After dropping their first game to Floral Park, they defeated New Hyde Park to earn a rematch against the Knights, needing to defeat them twice.
After Luke Coats, now committed to West Virginia and one of the better pitchers on Long Island, pitched a perfect game in game one, Phillip Bunt came in early in the third inning and closed out the game with seven strikeouts on a rainy day. “The last play was a hard ground ball up the middle, Vincent Lanci made a great play, and turned a double play to hold on to a 9-6 lead,” Bunt recalled.
It was the first time this core group experienced winning for their town—a feeling they wouldn’t forget.
By 2023, most of them had stayed together and moved on to Carle Place High School, joining a varsity program fresh off a Class C championship the prior spring.
But the 2023 season didn’t go as planned. The Frogs stumbled through a tough schedule, finishing the regular season 6-17. Still, they qualified for the playoffs and drew Locust Valley in the best-of-three opening round.
With their season on the line, Carle Place turned to Bunt, now a freshman. A member of that District 29 Championship team, he led the Frogs to a series upset and a spot in the semifinals.
“People I knew from travel ball and their friends were screaming and rattling the fence while I was pitching, trying to get in my head. It was loud, maybe a little too loud to block out, but I used it as fuel to pitch better. I stayed calm and never got too nervous,” Bunt said, reflecting on the outing.
The run ended in the semifinals against eventual champion Seaford, but the tone was set for the future.
That momentum carried into 2024. Now competing in the newly formed Class B, the Frogs kept climbing. Bunt earned All-County honors with a .436 average and 1.157 OPS, while Schoch and shortstop Patrick McCarthy were named All-Conference. Carle Place returned to the semifinals, falling in three games to eventual champion Wheatley.
Another step forward, but still short of the goal.
So when 2025 arrived, the mission was clear: finish the job.
“Over the past few seasons, we kept seeing steady progress,” said head coach Stephen Laurino. “Even though we hadn’t reached our ultimate goal, we knew this group had the experience and ability to do something special.”
After a modest 4-3 start, the Frogs caught fire down the stretch, closing the season with a 14-4 run beginning April 15.
“Every day, we talked about the goal which was winning a county championship,” Laurino said of the team’s turnaround. “Good games or bad, it was always about learning and staying focused on the bigger picture. Every player was bought in. From March practices to the final out, everything we did was with that goal in mind. Our staff made sure the guys were ready to win when it mattered most.”
Once again, it was the upperclassmen that led the charge. Schoch anchored the team with his MVP season, while shortstop Patrick McCarthy put together a strong All-County campaign, hitting .367 with two home runs, 21 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases.
For Schoch, the team’s depth and experience made all the difference—not just for the Frogs, but for his own performance.
“My success this year came from the group around me,” he said. “On the mound, I always knew the guys behind me were ready to make a play. Whether I was throwing to Colin Driscoll or Tyler Marquart, I trusted both of them behind the plate.”
Rolling into the playoffs with momentum, Carle Place made quick work of Cold Spring Harbor in the semifinals, punching their ticket to Farmingdale State College for a shot at the county championship.
Waiting for them was top-seeded Oyster Bay, a formidable opponent that had swept the Frogs in May.
For this core group, it was their biggest test yet. Carle Place had been eliminated by the eventual champions in each of the past two postseasons. Now, with a title on the line, they had a chance to flip the script.
Schoch got the ball in game one and delivered a performance for the ages. The junior went nine innings, refusing to give in. For Laurino, it was no surprise his ace performed the way he did.
“Tommy’s performance is one I’ll remember for a long time,” Laurino said. “He was our workhorse all season. We always knew he’d give us a chance to win. After every inning, he’d come off the mound and say, ‘I’ve got another one in me.’ He was determined to finish that game and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
As the game stretched into extra innings, the Frogs never flinched. Their confidence held, and eventually, it paid off.
In the 10th, McCarthy delivered in the biggest moment of his season, ripping a walk-off single to right field to give Carle Place a 4-3 win.
“In a tie game, with runners in scoring position, I wouldn’t want anyone else at the plate,” Schoch said. “Pat’s such a competitor in the box.”
In game two, Schoch made his presence felt at the plate, collecting two hits and driving in the game’s only run. But the story of the day was Roman Sandonato, who went the distance with a complete game shutout to clinch Carle Place’s 13th county championship and a celebration well-earned.
“The final out was a pop-up right to me, and I knew the moment it was in the air that we had won,” Bunt said. “Coach Laurino talked about the dogpile we were going to have before the season even started. He spoke it into existence, and we did it. I think I can speak for the whole team when I say we all felt a huge sense of relief and joy the moment the ball was caught. It was probably the happiest I’ve ever been after winning a baseball game.”
At the same exact time the baseball team secured its title, Carle Place’s softball program made history of its own just a few hundred feet away. The Frogs clinched a conference championship with a win over East Rockaway on the very same complex where the boys had just claimed theirs.
For the softball team, it was just the beginning. They went on to capture their second straight Long Island championship with a win over Babylon to advance to the New York State Tournament.
“It was extraordinary to share that moment with the softball team,” said Coach Laurino. “The Carle Place community and school district are so supportive of their athletic teams and they really showed their support that weekend. It was a great experience for these student athletes, and it was a great day to be a Frog.”
Softball head coach Alyssa Allen and Laurino are both Carle Place alumni and former players now leading the very programs they once played for.
“Coach Allen and I both played for our respective teams here,” Laurino added. “Bringing championships back to our hometown together on the same day made it all the more special.”
The baseball team’s postseason run ended one step short, falling to Babylon in the Long Island Championship.
With McCarthy the only graduating award-winner, Coach Laurino will return nearly the entire core for 2026 as a battle-tested, motivated group aware of the expectations ahead.
They’ll enter next spring as conference favorites with a target on their backs. Still, the Frogs welcome the challenge. Repeating is one of the hardest feats in sports, but for a team that has proven their mettle, it’s one they believe they can meet.
“I still feel like as long as Tommy and I are on the mound, all the other teams we’re facing are in trouble,” Bunt said. “We’ll have a very dangerous team that can attack early and protect the lead. I believe we have a great shot at returning to the Long Island Championship.”
Carle Place’s future looks as promising as its present, thanks to a standout underclassman core following in the footsteps of the current junior class.
Freshman Ryan Kang made an immediate impact, hitting .403 at the plate and posting a 2.21 ERA on the mound, earning All-Conference honors. Sophomores Tyler Marquart and Michael Tucholski also delivered All-Conference seasons, headlining a group Coach Laurino is excited to watch develop.
“This is a really exciting group of returning underclassmen,” Laurino said. “As a spectator, you might not even realize they’re underclassmen. They competed at the level of varsity veterans.”
2025 was a season for the history books at Carle Place, a chapter in a story that’s far from over. A winning culture has been built, and the pieces are in place for a legitimate title defense in 2026. If this group has taught us anything, it’s never to count the Frogs out.
