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Babylon Enters 2026 as Reigning Class B New York State Champs

Babylon Enters 2026 as Reigning Class B New York State Champs

Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series

For the first time since 2007, Babylon captured the Class B NYS Championship. Ironically, that was the year that the senior class was born.

Head Coach Michael Birnbaum, who is entering his sixth year at the helm, was incredibly proud of his team that was named Axcess Baseball’s Small School Team of the Year.

“It was incredible,” he said. “It’s one thing to have talent but when you have a talented group that cares so much about each other that guys will do anything to win, that’s when you have a special year. You can have all the talent in the world, but sometimes it’s not the right recipe. Those kids would’ve done anything for the team.”

The Panthers, who finished with a record of 22-3, were not without adversity. Their ace, Aidan Kistner, had Tommy John surgery and was limited to DH. Their next best pitcher, James Rugolo, also suffered an injury and was unable to pitch.

Despite this, they were able to compile a team ERA of 1.50, which was a true testament to their “next man up mentality,” according to Birnbaum.

Their biggest test was in the NYS Semifinals against Mechanicville, where they trailed 4-0 in the first inning. Birnbaum called on sophomore sensation Jake Ostertag who came in with the bases loaded, 0 out in the third inning. All he did was escape the jam without allowing a run, while his offense chipped away. Ultimately, they came away with a 5-4 win thanks to a go-ahead RBI single by sophomore John Stricoff in the top of the seventh inning.

“Every button pressed just went right that game,” he added.

They rode that momentum into the NYS Finals, where Owen Killeen pitched the game of his life – a two-hit shutout over Putnam Valley, which was their 15th straight win.

Remarkably, the allowed just five runs in their five postseason games and notched eight shutouts on the season.

From their historic run, they graduate 16 seniors – including first-team All-State infielder John Harkins. He is currently off to a torrid start at Division-II Queens College, which up right where he left off last season – he batted .514 with a .641 OBP, 1.587 OPS, 36 stolen bases and 47 runs scored. The numbers are astounding and will be virtually impossible to replace.

“With him leading off, Kistner second and Jake third, it was basically an automatic run in the first inning,” said Birnbaum.

Kistner is currently at Pro5 Academy, which is a post-grad academy in North Carolina. Despite missing time last season, he still batted .383 with 2 HRs, 16 RBIs, 16 runs scored and 1.218 OPS.

Joe Cavallo is currently playing at SUNY Old Westbury. He batted .381 with 4 HRs and 33 RBIs. They also graduated Gavin McDonnell, who is at Suffolk CC. He went 7-1 with a stellar 1.73 ERA and 37 Ks over 48.1 innings.

Fortunately for the Panthers, they return another first-team All-State player in Jake Ostertag. The junior was featured as part of our ‘Up Next’ series and is among the top 2027 players on Long Island. He batted .467 with 4 HRs, 35 runs scored and 1.229 OPS. He also went 7-0 to go along with the save in the NYS Semifinals. He fired 42 innings with 43 Ks. This was all accomplished as a sophomore, so the sky is the limit for him.

Ostertag will anchor the rotation along with the aforementioned Killeen, who drew high praise from his head coach.

“He’s a super crafty righty,” said Birnbaum. “He’s a high IQ guy, he throws every pitch for strikes, he tunnels well. He studies the game.”

They have all the confidence that they can win any game with those two on the mound. There will be a competition to fill out that third spot in the rotation.

They will return two-way players Connor Cavaliere and John Basile. 

Behind the dish, they have senior Ethan Meinken. They’ll be relying more on Stricoff, who was primarily a pinch-runner and defensive replacement last season, but will be a top of the order hitter.

He also mentioned Eli O’Farrell. He was a player that was cut in junior high but really put in the work to improve his game. He recently recorded a 97 MPH exit velocity and coach said “he came out of nowhere.” He was described as a “big kid, good athlete and good outfielder.”

They have an exciting young player in the program as well, Mason Koch, who is the nephew of former big leaguer and West Babylon grad Billy Koch.

“He knows the game and he’s got it in his blood – he’s a player to watch,” said Birnbaum.

The back-to-back-to-back Class B County Champs are in League 7 – which is a split league among Class A and Class B schools. It will consist of John Glenn, Shoreham-Wading River and Bayport-Blue Point (all Class A schools), along with Babylon, Center Moriches, Southampton and Mattituck (all Class B schools). This means those schools will all compete for the same League 7 crown but in the playoffs, they would only square off with the schools in their classification.

“I like this better,” said Birnbaum. “I would rather play tougher regular season schedule. Last year, we scrimmaged with Garden City, St. Anthony’s and Connetquot. That goes a big way in preparing. We are doing the same thing this year. The day I stop scheduling tough scrimmages is when I don’t think we have it.”

They will open up with two tough series; Shoreham-Wading River and Bayport-Blue Point, who are both perennial playoff teams.

The Panthers 15-game win streak will be put to the test right away.

 

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Vinny is the President of Axcess Baseball. He is a 2013 graduate of Adelphi University and he is currently the Long Island area scout for the San Diego Padres

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