by Ryan Manno
It was a clinic in all three facets of the game on Saturday afternoon at Borella Field as Eagles 16U put together a relentless, fourteen hit performance to defeat Beast 2028 by a final score of 12-1. Led by a flawless day at the plate from shortstop Jake McCaffery and a masterpiece on the mound by southpaw Joe Chimenti, the Bethpage Eagles took control in the third inning and never looked back.
The contest began as a quiet defensive battle through the first two innings, but the Eagles’ offense quickly found its rhythm in the bottom of the third. Jake McCaffery worked a disciplined 1-0 walk to spark the rally. Moments later, Andrew Arnoitis stepped into the box and delivered a clutch line drive single, driving in two runs and putting the Eagles on the board with an early 3-0 advantage.
Beast 2028 attempted to answer in the top of the fourth, but the Eagles’ defense slammed the door with a spectacular highlight reel play. First baseman Zach S. flashed the leather and snagged a sharp line drive out of the air before turning and tagging the bag himself to complete a crucial unassisted double play, to escape trouble. Beast managed to scratch across their lone run of the day in the top of the 5th when Nicholas DePasquale hit a hard grounder that resulted in an infield error which allowed Christopher Aragon to score. That was all Chimenti would allow, as the Eagles’ starter settled right back in and froze the Team Beast bats by striking out the next two consecutive hitters to strand the runner.
In the fifth, the Eagles broke the game wide open with aggressive baserunning and situational hitting. With the bases loaded, Andrew Arnoitis grounded into a double play, but a sharp jump by Zach. allowed him to score, pushing the lead to 5-1. Joe Messana provided the heavy lifting in the middle of the lineup, driving an RBI single to bring home Jake McCaffery to push the score to 6-1. Messana then manufactured a run entirely on his own, swiping third base before forcing a balk to cross the plate and extend the lead to 7-1.
RBI single from Jake McCaffery. 8-1 Bethpage. pic.twitter.com/8osfXO0n1y
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 23, 2026
Holding a commanding advantage, the Eagles’ offense went on a five run rampage on five hits in the sixth inning to put the game completely out of reach. Jake McCaffery kept his perfect day alive with an RBI single scoring Ryan Verini. Jazz Minhas followed with a sharp single to bring home Zach. With runners on, the red hot Joe Messana struck again, driving a base hit into the outfield to score both McCaffery and Minhas, pushing the score to 10-1. Andrew Arnoitis eventually crossed the plate on a final defensive error to cap off the scoring by run rule, 12-1.
The offensive numbers were staggering for the Eagles, led by Jake McCaffery’s 3-for-3 performance, scoring 3 runs. Joe Messana drove the offense from the cleanup spot, going 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and two of the team’s six total stolen bases. On the mound, Joe Chimenti pitched a masterpiece, throwing six complete innings, while allowing just three hits, one unearned run, one walk, and striking out nine batters on seventy five pitches.
On the other side of the ball, Beast 2028 saw hard fought singles from Aaron Chang and Christopher Aragon, but they ultimately could not solve Chimenti’s mix of pitches. Starting pitcher Luke Ferraro battled hard through four innings for Beast before giving way to Kevin Sutch in relief. With the victory, Eagles 16U carries tremendous momentum into their next matchup on Saturday when they take on West Islip 16U.