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Center Moriches Captures Suffolk Class B Championship for First Time Since 2022

by Jacob Infald

For the first time since the 2022 season, Center Moriches High School is the Suffolk County Class B Champions. They swept the best-of-3 championship series against Babylon led by dominant pitching, only allowing one run across the two games, winning the second game, 3-1, on the back of starting pitcher Alex Foster.

Foster fired five innings, allowing only one earned run and striking out six. He was relieved by another sophomore, Richie Roberts who secured the save, striking out three over two hitless frames. They followed a complete game shutout from their ace, Dan Gilroy, a senior committed to play college ball at the University of New Haven next spring.

“Pitching is something that we always value at Center Moriches,” Paul Gibson III, Center Moriches head coach, told Axcess Baseball. “We’ve got a bunch of good arms, and fortunately, both those guys today are sophomores, and they came through for us big time after Dan went out and did what he had to do yesterday, so tremendous job by both of them.”

Foster was able to pitch with a lead early on thanks to some successful small ball from the Red Devils. Felician University-commit Luke Rebore-Costanzo was hit by a pitch to start the game for the Red Devils. He stole second and third, putting himself in position to be driven in via a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of junior JJ Bonventre and the Red Devils led 1-0.

Two innings later, catcher Jack Cressy led off with a walk. He was pinch run for by senior Peter Nizza who promptly stole second base. He was able to advance to third after a groundball hit to the right side by Roberts. This brought Rebore-Costanzo to the plate with one out, and again, the Red Devils played exceptional situational baseball. Rebore-Costanzo hit a groundball to the right side, Nizza got a great jump on the ball and beat the throw home from Panther first baseman Connor Cavaliere and the Red Devils led 2-0 early. 

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Gibson said his squad works on small ball tactics constantly in practice and they were confident in their ability to play situational baseball in a close postseason contest. 

“We hit a lot this year, put a lot of runs on the board, but we know playoff baseball, close games, it comes down to who can execute, and we put a ton of time into that,” Gibson said. “It’s great to see our work come out in the field and get the job done in the crucial moment.”

Despite trailing the entire contest, the Panthers applied pressure on the bases throughout the night. They had runners on base five of the seven innings, but Foster demonstrated strong poise, especially for an underclassman, getting out of multiple jams. 

In the bottom of the first he fired back-to-back strikeouts to strand junior John Stricoff on third. In the fourth, after surrendering his only run via an RBI single up the middle by Jonathan Basile, Foster found himself in a first and second jam with two outs. With the Babylon dugout and fans energized, Foster bore down, and forced Cavaliere to hit a weak groundball to the left side. Roberts gobbled it up at shortstop, and flipped it to sophomore Jake Passaro at second for the force out to get out of the jam. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Foster had one more heroic moment. After hitting two batters with one out, Foster sent junior Jake Ostertag packing with a high fastball for strike three. The following batter, Owen Killeen was fooled by a beautiful backdoor breaking ball. Both Foster and Cressy were fired up, pumping their fists and yelling as they walked off the field. 

In the top of the sixth, Cressy kept the energy going. After falling behind in the count, he battled back and launched a ball deep into the night sky, it cleared the high wall in right-center field and the Red Devils went wild. Cressy took his time around the bases and was embraced by his teammates outside the dugout. This moment exemplified the team chemistry and love that the Moriches squad has for one another, as their dugout was full of positive energy from the first pitch to the last. 

After Roberts got the final six outs to finish the job, it was time to celebrate. The Red Devils will advance to the Class B Long Island Championship where they will take on the winner of Cold Spring Harbor and Oyster Bay.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Gibson said. “Everyday I come out to the field, and they find a way, even when they make me nuts, to put a smile on my face. It’s just a great group of kids. They’re there for the community, they’re there for our younger players. Everything they get this year, they truly deserve, and it’s just been a pleasure to coach them.”