Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
Garden City captures the Nassau Class AA Championship with an 8-5 win over Bellmore JFK! pic.twitter.com/uPmwi3gBIF
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2025
Garden City (24-5) was a wagon in the postseason, rattling off eight consecutive wins en route to their first Long Island Championship since 2021.
In the beginning, it did not appear it was going to go that way.
In their first playoff game against MacArthur, who entered coming off a loss to New Hyde Park, they fell behind 6-1 in the bottom of the 6th. MacArthur was flying high following a grand slam by Nick Albert.
The tides seemed to turn after that, however. The Trojan bats went to work and their bullpen held the fort as they held on for a victory.
After that, they went into cruise control culminating with a sweeps over New Hyde Park, East Meadow and Bellmore JFK in the Nassau AA Finals and a convincing 10-5 victory over East Islip with the Paul Gibson Award winner on the mound. Ultimately, they were defeated by Fox Lane, 4-3, in the Southeast Regional.
Coach Dave Izzo was pleasantly surprised with their success in 2025 which included being named Axcess Baseball’s HS Team of the Year.
“Going into the year, we didn’t know what to expect,” said Izzo. “We had just graduated a 14 senior class, with two four-year starters. But we knew we had talent,” he added.
They certainly did, led by Evan Cabral, who is now a freshman at Stony Brook University. He batted a program-record .603 in 2024 and followed that up by batting .380 with 10 HRs and 30 RBIs. Cabral was primarily a DH last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery as a sophomore. He exits the program as one of the most prolific hitters in their storied history.
Stony Brook-commit Evan Cabral’s homer in Garden City’s win pic.twitter.com/8ba0wAvpV8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2025
Coach Izzo stated that he “will be hard to replace.”
They also graduated All-League 3B James Trocchia. He formed a formidable middle-of-the-order with Cabral, compiling a .355 AVG with 4 HRs and 26 RBIs. He also was their closer – he didn’t yield a run in the regular season and recorded the final out of the County Finals and LIC. He was a captain of their vaunted football team, so Coach Izzo was confident in his abilty to handle the mental rigor of the late game situations.
While those two were the highest profile players, they also had several X-factors along the way in the form of catcher Shea Burns, SS Will Jewel and LF Connor Griffin. The former two provided steady defense at critical spots up the middle, while Griffin stepped in and won the LF job and wound up batting .417 over 36 at bats including some clutch hits.
There’s no question that the team was led by the outstanding duo of southpaw junior LHPS Joe Carey and Chris Desiderio. They both had nearly identical seasons and are both back for 2026.
Carey, who will be attending Holy Cross in the fall, went 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA. He notched 58 innings and notched a 0.95 WHIP. He lost his first game of the season; a non-leaguer against Port Washington before rattling off wins in 7 straight decisions. They will be counting on his dominance to anchor the rotation once again.
LHP Joe Carey (Garden City 2026) commits to the College of Holy Cross. He was 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA for the Long Island Class AA Champs @NextLevelBaseba pic.twitter.com/TFIRlyTlUz
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 1, 2025
If Carey is 1A then Desiderio is 1B. The southpaw went 8-1 with a 1.64 ERA. He struck out 73 batters over 55.2 innings with a 1.19 WHIP.
“They are both No. 1 pitchers, in my opinion,” said Izzo.
The third spot in the rotation will be an open competition.
“It’s really exciting,” said Izzo. “There’s about four or five kids in the mix,” he added.
They return a few other impact players as well. Kyle Walsh, who is committed to the College of Staten Island, was a different maker for them. While he did not garner any accolades, he finished with a .371 AVG, 2 HRs and 20 RBIs thanks to an “unbelievable playoffs,” according to Izzo. He will be their starting right fielder.
They also return Skyler Lang, who was named All-Conference. Lang bated over .400 in league play and was their starting second baseman and set up guy. He’ll bat at the top of the order again. Coach also mentioned he fired a CG over the summer with around 70 pitches, and they really like his ability to throw strikes despite not possessing overpowering stuff.
“He can start but we like using him every day in relief.”
Last but not least is St. John Fisher-commit Jack Murphy. His bases-clearing difference in the Long Island Championship against Thomas Costarelli broke the game open and made it fait accompli.
Jack Murphy’s bases clearing triple gave Garden City the 4-2 lead and GC has since broken the game open they lead 10-3 pic.twitter.com/IfMyH25QhK
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 5, 2025
The Trojans will head to Disney for a Spring Training trip March 20-24 for a few scrimmages. They will be competing in Nassau Conference AA-2 against Carey, MacArthur, Manhasset, Glen Cove and Hewlett.
