Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by Max Edelman
Armed with some of the very best talent in high school baseball, the Bellmore JFK Cougars were just two wins away from winning a County Championship. The Cougars made it all the way to the AA Nassau County finals before ultimately seeing their season end at the hands of Garden City. Despite falling short, head coach Mike Gattus looked back fondly on his team’s 2025 campaign.
“We had the ability to step up in big moments.” Gattus said. “That team last year had a lot of playoff experience from the two years prior. That came in clutch when it mattered most. That team worked really hard. They had great practices, they had a great offseason and a lot of guys who cared about each other. It was a very tight knit group. We bring a lot of players back, we lose our All-County player Eli Lowenstein who reached the 100-hit and the 100-run mark last season.”
While most of the Cougars key players are returning this year, they did lose a number of key players to graduation. They include Lowenstein, and Vito Mannino who was an All-County third baseman for the Cougars last season playing at the IMG Academy.
Whenever you talk about Kennedy baseball, the first two names that always come to mind are the twin-brother pairing of Derek and Ryan Yormack. The Yormack brothers, juniors who recently flipped their commitment to baseball powerhouse Vanderbilt, aren’t just two of the best high school baseball players on Long Island, but are some of the most talented players in the country.
BREAKING: Ryan & Derek Yormack (Bellmore JFK 2027) commit to Vanderbilt University pic.twitter.com/O2yXuP2lhY
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 3, 2025
“This will be their fourth year on varsity.” Gattus said. “It was a big deal when they came up in eighth grade and for the success they had in eighth grade. Now to have two of the best players in the country in our program is a tremendous deal. They’re top-notch kids and once-in-a-lifetime players. You can really see first hand what makes them so special and it starts with their work ethic.”
Last season the Yormack’s played to a superstar-like level. In 55 plate appearances, Ryan hit to a .582 average with eight home runs, 36 RBIs and an insane 1.862 OPS. Derek, who pitched last year as well, hit to a .520 average with four home runs, 21 RBIs and a 1.497 OPS. On the mound, Derek was just as dominant. In 27.2 innings, Yormack struck out 51 batters to only 10 walks and allowed only five hits in the entire regular season. To top it all off, Derek did not allow a single earned run throughout the entire regular season.
“They’re really the complete package.” Gattus said. “They’re tremendously special kids and I can’t praise them enough for their work ethic, and it shows up. The stats and the accolades speak for themselves, they were two All-State players last year and Diamond Award finalists. We hope that they can lead us to take that next step as a program this year. I can’t say enough good things about them.”
Of course, baseball is a team sport, and the Cougars are lucky to have a very strong, high-level team around the Yormack brothers. At the top of that list is Zach Adelstein. Adelstein, who is entering his senior year, is a two-time All-Conference pitcher for the Cougars. Last year, Adelstein pitched to a 2.43 ERA across 23 innings of work Adelstein is one of a number of players who came up big for JFK in the playoffs. Behind the plate is Derek Fong. Fong stepped up at the plate last season, hitting an impressive .316 with a .882 OPS and also drove in six runs.
“He’s done a tremendous job behind the plate for us over the last two years.” Gattus said. “He went from an everyday catcher who was DH’ed for as a sophomore, had such a strong offseason and worked so hard, he became an All-Conference player behind the plate and did a super job of managing our staff.”
Dylan Babek (Bellmore JFK 2027) commits to Stony Brook University @USG_Baseball pic.twitter.com/ZyObKy6S68
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 5, 2025
A Stony Brook-commit, Dylan Babek hit .380 for JFK last year to go along with a homer and 18 RBIs. Babek could see some increased time on the mound this year. One of the team’s better hitters is Alex Demas. Last season in 19 games, Demas hit .388 with three home runs and 17 RBIs.
“He’s worked really hard to come back from injury last year towards the end of the year. He’s going to be a formidable bat in the middle of our lineup.”
Other key returning guys include Frankie Stella, Zach Mizrahi, Zach McDowell and playoff MVP pitcher Max Goodman.
Obviously, with a team as strong as this one, the goal is to win the County and then the Long Island Championship. With a roster full of returning players with plenty of experience, Gattus believes this could be the year his program takes the big step forward.
“The key focus for us this year is to focus on the day-to-day.” Gattus said. “Just stack days. It sounds like coach speak, but it’s really so important for us. I feel like last year after getting to the county finals, the pressure to get over the hump and win sometimes got in the way of us just living in the moment and competing day to day. They key for us this year is just to focus on living in the moment, stacking great days, getting better every day, and putting ourselves in a position to compete in May which is ultimately what you work for.
The Bellmore JFK Cougars will open their league play on April 7.
