Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
Sophomore Andrew Noe comes through with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth and Kellenberg has captured the 2025 NSCHSAA Championship with a 3-2 win over Chaminade ! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/OvBv39K4LE
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 27, 2025
In Round III, it was Kellenberg who delivered the knockout punch.
The Chaminade Flyers and Kellenberg Firebirds have squared off in the Catholic League Finals in 2021, 2022 and 2025. The first two times, the Flyers proved to be too tough to overcome but Kellenberg finally was able to slay the dragon in a thrilling best-of-three at Hofstra University.
The winning run came on a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth by sophomore Andrew Noe. He was awarded with the GameChanger Play of the Year and Miles was awarded Axcess Baseball’s Coach of the Year. They would eventually lose in the NYS Tournament to Caniscius HS from Buffalo.
“The one thing, looking back, we had enough players that were just completely unselfish and would say, ‘whatever you need me to do,’ said Miles. “The recipe that I learned last year, the kids had to be coachable and buy in,” he added.
If you paused time after two games, it didn’t look like they had the makings of a championship-caliber team.
“We lost the first two games to St. Anthony’s and got shutout both games. There was a lot of questions at that time; Jack Durso was coming off an injury, could Andrew Noe adjust to the varsity level, and we had a freshman catcher for the first time ever – can a freshman catch Durso?”
Eventually, these concerns were all quelled in short order as the Firebirds would eventually right the ship and rattle of 9 straight wins.
“The one thing I learned more than anything,” said Miles, “is if you get a group of kids that are willing to do anything to win, you can do it. Of course when you have guys like Jack Durso, Kevin Prosceo, Eric Ressegger and Chris Parisi on the mound it makes the job a lot easier.”
Miami freshman LHP Jack Durso (Kellenberg 2025) fired 3 shutout innings with 4 Ks in relief last night against UCF. He entered with the Hurricanes trailing 5-0, they wound up winning 8-7 in 13 innings on a walk-off homer by Vance Sheahan. FB up to 92 pic.twitter.com/flLZ3Pwo2Y
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 18, 2026
From that group, Durso is currently pitching at Miami, Eric Ressegger is pitching at Adelphi, Mario Coscio & Ryan Langner are playing at Molloy and Lucas Vamvaketis is at Pitt Community College.
Durso was particularly dominant – he went 4-3 with a 0.76 ERA, striking out 42 over 27.2 innings pitched.
Despite the obvious challenges of replacing those impact players, this year’s team figures to be just as difficult to knock out come playoff time.
They will be anchored by a strong rotation led by Iona-commit Kevin Prosceo and Queens-commit Chris Parisi. Their top arm out of the bullpen will be Farmingdale-commit Evan Williams – who was the winning pitcher in the clincher. Parisi started and provided six gutty innings to keep Chaminade at bay.
The third spot in the rotation is currently up for grabs, but it is not without talented arms.
Adelphi-commit Rich LaVacca (Kellenberg 2026) pic.twitter.com/L6SZmIkUAR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 6, 2026
The offense will be led by a pair of Adelphi-commits Richie LaVacca and Jaden Valdez.
“He is just so solid in the field,” said Miles. “He’ll hit over .300 and steal a lot of bases. He’s very fundamental, he’s just the total package as a player. Adelphi is getting a steal because he is a Division-I kid,” Miles said in regards to LaVacca.
Valdez is a player that has truly turned himself into an impact player through sheer hard work and dedication.
“He can be the premier power bat not just in our lineup but in the league,” said Miles. “He’s an absolute monster, he recently joined the 1000 lb club (bench press, squat, deadlift). He’s in the weight room at Kellenberg at 6am every day. He’s a kid that can hit 7 or 8 homers this year. He was a two-year JV-B player and there’s sort of a stigma in the league around those players but he just totally committed himself and is proving everyone else wrong.”
Jaden Valdez (Kellenberg 2026) with a 2 run double for Next Level pic.twitter.com/ViYZ3PhUAh
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 28, 2024
In LF they will have senior American International College-commit Nicholas Conway who will be an important part of their offense.
The aforementioned Andrew Noe is now a junior and is now a St. John’s-commit.
“He’s gained like 20 lbs of muscle since last year,” said Miles. “They are a family that knows what they are doing. He tried out at SS this year and he said it was to show off his throwing arm,” joked Miles. “He’s a kid that struggled as a freshman on JV but we took him up because we knew he’d work hard, hit 9th, bunt and play a good second base. That was the mindset going in. Then he showed up and he was third overall in batting average in the league and led our team at .361 (22-for-61). He had a .488 on-base. He’s super scrappy, he scored 22 runs – which led the team, and he did it out of the 9-hole. He had an amazing year, he was All-League, and now the expectations are higher after the commitment so I told him he has a lot to prove.”
Next Level catcher Michael Cotto (Kellenberg 2028) throws out the runner attempting to steal second to end the fifth
Scoreless through five pic.twitter.com/Miba9kM4q6
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 9, 2025
Behind the dish, they have the exciting phenom Michael Cotto. He made history by becoming the first player in program history to get called up as a freshman. Not only did he get called up, but he handled their veteran pitching staff excellently, and he batted .274 with 19 RBIs and just 12 Ks in a wood bat league against players 3 years older.
“He’s grown about 3 inches since last school year. He’s now a legit 6’3,” said Miles. “He’s gained about 17 lbs of muscle. His pop time in the D.R. was 2.08 last month. He’s a legitimate lefty hitter. He has power to all fields. Another kid that works out at 6am everyday. He’s only going to get stronger. He has the height for a first baseman already. And he’s already earned the right to be a leader – he was the starting catcher on a championship team.”
They have one massive X-factor and that is transfer 6’3 L/L Joe Disanza who came over from Chaminade but did not play last season – which means he is eligible to play. He will be their CF and will see time on the mound.
One exciting piece of news for Kellenberg is that they’ll be playing their home games at the beautiful Adelphi University this season which provide an enhanced experience for all players and spectators.
They will open up league play on March 28 against St. Mary’s at Moriches Athletic Complex at 9am. They will look to defend their title as they did in 2016-’17.
