The Trusted Home of Amateur Baseball on Long Island – From Travel through College

search icon
advertise with us

News

Game of the Week Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm: Kellenberg Dominates St. Dominic’s in Game 1 of NSCHSAA Championship Series

by Trevor Dugan

Richie LaVacca picked a great time to hit his first two home runs of the season.

The Adelphi-commit powered his Kellenberg Firebirds past St. Dominic, 11-4, in Game 1 of the NSCHSAA championship series at Hofstra University. 

LaVacca finished 3-for-4 with two home runs, three runs scored, and three RBI, earning the GameChanger Player of the Game honors. 

Kellenberg scored at least once in each of the first four innings, beginning their onslaught in the bottom of the first when junior center fielder Joe Disanza led off with a single and came around to score on an RBI triple off the bat of sophomore catcher Michael Cotto. 

The defending champs stretched their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the second on an RBI bunt single by senior second baseman Anthony Cantara. 

Kellenberg senior and Iona-commit Kevin Prosceo held St. Dominic scoreless over the first two innings Saturday, and ended up pitching six strong innings to earn the win. 

State Farm ken kortwright mobile ad black border

“We knew we had to win game one against a great team like St. Dominic’s,” Prosceo said after the game. “My offense kept getting me runs, which boosted my confidence and really made me last longer in this game.” 

Following a quiet first two innings, St. Dominic struck for two runs in the top of the third to tie the game at 2-2, scoring on back-to-back RBI doubles by senior right fielder Dylan Weinstein and junior shortstop Ray Kim. 

Kim, a Rhode Island-commit, put on quite the show Saturday despite his team’s loss. He finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a home run, showing off some otherworldly power for his age. One of his foul balls struck the roof of a Hofstra dormitory building adjacent to the field, well past the 330 foot left field wall. 

After Kim’s double tied the game in the top of the third, LaVacca took the lead right back for Kellenberg with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. Senior right fielder Nick Conway drove in Kellenberg’s fourth run with an RBI single, before being doubled home by junior left fielder Gavin Langner to make it 5-2 Kellenberg. 

Just one inning later in the bottom of the fourth, LaVacca added another RBI to his total with a single to score fellow Adelphi-commit Jaden Valdez. Two more runs scored in the inning on a pair of bases loaded walks, pushing Kellenberg’s lead to 8-2. 

Kim cut into the Kellenberg lead in the top of the fifth by smashing a two-run home run, cutting the deficit to four, but those were the last runs St. Dominic would muster Saturday. 

In the bottom of the sixth, LaVacca capped off his superhuman performance with his second home run of the game, another solo shot to bring his RBI total to three. Two more runs scored in the sixth on a throwing error, and Kellenberg took an 11-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh. 

“I may be biased, but I think Richie is one of the top players in this league,” Kellenberg head coach Pat Miles said after the win. “Hitting his first two home runs today, for him to save that for this particular game, obviously that helped us a lot.”

Having reached his pitch limit, Prosceo was replaced by Farmingdale State-commit Evan Williams in the top of the seventh. Facing the meat of the St. Dominic lineup, Williams had no trouble pitching a 1-2-3 inning to finish off Kellenberg’s 11-4 win.

Saturday’s victory brings Kellenberg within one win of their second straight Catholic league title. Game 2 of their series with St. Dominic’s will be played Monday, May 25 at Hofstra University. 

“I’m telling the boys, ‘don’t think this is over by any means, it definitely isn’t’,” Coach Miles said. “We’ll have (Chris) Parisi going on Monday for Game 2, and we feel good about that. Hopefully that’s the last game we have to play, but if it’s not, we have other arms ready to go too.”