Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by Vin Messana
Massapequa captures the Class AAA Long Island Championship with a 7-0 victory over Connetquot ! 🏆
They advance to the NYS Semifinals next weekend in Binghamton against the winner of Pine Bush-Ketchum pic.twitter.com/JlcUKy76D6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 8, 2025
If one thing is for sure, ‘Jack is pitching’ will be a common phrase for Massapequa in 2026.
The Chiefs will enter the season with the following rotation:
- Jack Scannapieco
- Jack Corrigan
- Jack Mulligan
It was starting pitching that was the strength in 2025, according to legendary coach Tom Sheedy, which allowed the Chiefs to bounce back after a one-year hiatus from atop the Nassau County baseball mountaintop. The Chiefs had suffered a shocking upset to Port Washington in the semifinals in 2024 and they returned with a vengeance in 2025, defeating the reigning champs, Farmingdale, in a best-of-three at Farmingdale State College. The following weekend, they shutout Connetquot to re-claim their spot as Class AAA Long Island Champs. Ultimately, their season was ended by Ketcham in the NYS Semifinals, who then lost to Saratoga Springs in the finals. The Chiefs finished with a record of 19-9.
In the County Finals, Massapequa suffered a 1-0 loss in Game 1 on a walk-off balk. It put their season on the line.
“Jack Corrigan caught a spike on the mound for a balk,” said Tom Sheedy. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game end like that before. After the game, Jack was, of course, absolutely decimated. I told the team, ‘you’re job is simple, get Jack Corrigan back on the mound.’ Jack did get back on the mound. Now it’s just a blip on the radar in his life. Not something that’s going to stick with him forever. That’s something that could wreck a kid. We came ready to play the next two games. And I knew we would,” he added.
The Chiefs scored 22 runs over the next two games – including a 12-0 win in the decisive Game 3 in which junior infielder Mikey Smar drove in five runs.
While Smar will be back, they do graduate several impact players from last year. No player will be more difficult to replace than Diamond Award winner Thomas Harding who compiled a spectacular 0.67 ERA and 0.94 WHIP over 52 innings with 85 Ks. Harding was absolutely phenomenal for them all season – which was a big reason their pitching was so effective.
“We wanted him to concentrate on pitching so he can be the ace, the stopper, put him on the mound against anyone. We needed him to become the pitcher he became. The second half of the season he became our DH,” said Sheedy.
They also graduate 1B Jason Romance who is now at the College of Staten Island. Coach spoke very highly of him as well.
“Jason Romance really did a nice job at first. He became like a B+ first baseman when we were initially concerned he’d be a liability. He didn’t hit many homers because he’s a line drive hitter. He hits the ball as hard as can be. One game at Plainview it was dark and I heard the ball off the bat and I knew it was hit to the left fielder but I couldn’t see it. With Jason, I’m standing back where they used to be with Gary Sheffield.”
They graduated second baseman Vincenzo Dellaporta who is now at Bridgeport.
“He’s worth the price of admission to watch him play defense,” said Sheedy. “It’s going to be hard to replace him. And he’s just a wonderful kid.”
LF Christian George also graduated. He was lauded for his hitting ability and his base running. “He really sparked us on the bases and was a big part of the team’s leadership.”
Other than that, they return the core of the team.
Behind the dish they have SUNY Oswego-commit Anthony DiNello.
“He’s quite a leader,” said Sheedy. “He was fabulous defensively for us in the playoffs. He’s just a great leader. He’s a straight line. If he says something, don’t even question it. He had just an off-the-charts football season. It’s fantastic that he’s a catcher. He might play some 1B just to give him a break and it might help him in college, too.” He went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs in the LIC.
After the graduation of Romance, 1B is open. They return Queens-commit AJ Conza who played OF last year but was a 1B as a sophomore. He also will be one of their key arms out of the ‘pen.
“He could be a starter on almost any team in the county,” said Sheedy. “We will use him as a closer. I spoke with him over the winter and told him we are more concerned with saving his arm. When he’s on the mound, the games on the line. He did some great things for us last year. We anticipate that to continue. He had a great hot streak during the season at one point and he we moved him into the middle of the order. Like all kids, he started to overthink a little but he still played for us all the time.”
Coach mentioned Joe Genova as someone that could potentially fill in at first base.
“He was a mainstay on the JV team, he’s a big kid, 6’3 lefty hitter, righty thrower. His dad played for me when I first got to Massapequa. He had a fantastic senior year.”
Jack Mulligan (Massapequa 2028) was nothing short of spectacular on the mound today, striking out four of the six batters he faced.
Standing 6’3 at just 15 years old, Mulligan’s fastball was topping out at 88 MPH. He has an effective low-70s curveball to keep hitters off… pic.twitter.com/cP4b6MnkL4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 19, 2025
Although he’s only a sophomore, Jack Mulligan is a big part of the present and future for the Chiefs.
Called up as a freshman – becoming the first Chief freshman pitcher in 30 years, he proved his mettle on the mound.
“We threw him in a little at third and outfield. If we are going to look down the road, he’s our ace next year. He was a two-way starter on the varsity football team that won the Long Island Championship last year. He was the one that had two interceptions in like one minute. He’s like a big Minnesota farm boy…he’s 6’2 215 lbs and his dad is bigger than him. We think he can be 95 and get drafted by the time he’s a senior.”
Assumption-commit Johnny Neary will man the shortstop position. He batted .350 last season with a .440 OBP, .512 SLG and .952 OPS.
“He’s going to be our shortstop. Just a wonderful kid. He has all the athletic skills. He really has that quick first step it will help him with base strolling. He was our leadoff hitter and he will be a main cog in our infielder,” said Sheedy.
Rounding out the infield is senior Mikey Smar. The Union-commit got off to a slow start, according to Sheedy, but seized his opportunities later.
Mikey Smar discusses his 5-RBI day which helped Massapequa clinch the Nassau Class AAA Title. pic.twitter.com/QUYhkGcEEa
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 1, 2025
“When he got into the lineup, and we preach this all the time, he was hitting to the opposite field. That makes me a happy guy. The thing about him is he goes 100-miles-per-hour. I wish sometimes he wouldn’t but if I take that away from him, it will hurt his game. He can put the ball out to right center field with ease.”
Also a Union-commit, Caiden Erker will man the CF position. He had a strong season, batting .351 with a .544 OBP, 12 RBIS and 18 runs scored.
“He’s a three-year varsity player. He’ll be our two-hitter. He’s really good on the bases. He does that ‘Volpe jump lead’. We continue to work on that. He’s helping me help the players on that since it’s not something I did when I played. He’s a brilliant baseball mind. There’s no doubt in my mind that he will be a baseball coach some day if he would like. He plays a great center field and has a cannon arm.”
Chris Sultana (Massapequa 2027) commits to Stony Brook University. He was featured as part of the “Up Next” series last offseason pic.twitter.com/KQHizjQqqw
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 6, 2025
In right field, they’ll have junior and Stony Brook-commit Chris Sultana.
“He’s got really unbelievable power and really good speed. He’s a lefty thrower in right field which I like.”
Left field will be an open competition since Christian George occupied it last year. Coach noted that there’s a chance Conza will move there if one of Mulligan/Genova win first base.
As previously mentioned, the pitching staff will consist of three Jack’s – Scannapieco, Corrigan and Mulligan.
“Scannapieco pitched three brilliant games in the playoffs,” said Sheedy. “Jack is a ground ball pitcher. If he gets two grounders in the first inning you just sit back and relax because he has his stuff working. He does some really good things and we are very excited for him.” He was named Playoff MVP. He will be attending the University of Saint Joseph’s in Pennsylvania.
In addition to Mulligan, they are looking at about three other sophomores to potentially get called up. One is catcher Xavier Micheli.
“He’s a pretty talented catcher, he won’t beat out DiNello but he’ll be with us everyday. Like we did with Paul Dulanto, when he played JV but traveled with us, this way when he was ready to start, he was ready. We find that being with the team helps them to be settled in the next year, otherwise they are feeling their way through half the season.
This year, Nassau AAA switched to a talent-based format with seven teams in two divisions. All seven teams in AAA-1 will makes the playoffs with the standings representing the playoff seeding. The winner of AAA-2 will be the eighth seed and there will be four quarterfinals matchups in a best-of-three format.
“We did this pre-covid. It’s a power league and I’m all for it. Every game will be competitive. And it’s better for other teams so they don’t have to come to Massapequa and be down 10-0 in the first inning.”
They will head down to Disney on March 27 until April 1 for their Spring Training games and will open up league play against Plainview JFK.
